SC - Pennsic Merchants

[Robin Hackett]

At 08:00 PM 5/6/97 EDT, Allison wrote:
>I suppose that dried mushrooms,
>reconstituted, would saute well enough?  I love the fresh ones raw in
>salad or in dip, but they get yucky fast.  No more plastic in the
>humidifier bin for my mushrooms!  That'll make room for the potatoes....

Not only will reconstituted dried mushrooms saute well, you should save the
water used to reconstitute them (as is commonly done for porcini or
shitake), filter it to remove any debris (I pour it though a paper towel)
and add it to sauces - there's great mushroom flavor to be had in the water.

It was mentioned earlier, but I second the motion on dry-sauteeing
mushrooms. I first read about it in the lovely (thoroughly modern) cookbook
"From a Breton Garden." I typically use just standard white mushrooms, but
have tried Crimini mushrooms as well (not that I noticed much difference,
besides the price). For best results, I suggest mincing the mushrooms
finely before sauteeing, then adding to a dry saute pan. The water int he
mushrooms will be drawn out, then they will saute in their own water. When
the lot is dry again, you're done - it takes about 4-5 minutes, all told. I
have used this technique to "beef up" vegetarian dishes (so to speak) where
I replace meat with mushrooms. This method also helps make an incredible
cheese and mushroom souffle.

- -Duncan, who notes the woeful lack of diacriticals in standard ASCII
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Tom Brady    tabrady at mindspring.com   SCA: Duncan MacKinnon of Tobermory
 See my web pages for links to the Society for Creative Anachronism and 
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