SC - mushrooms

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Jehanne Argentee wrote:
> 
> I have to disagree with this. I cook mushrooms on a weekly basis, and have
> never had any problems with button mushrooms soaking up liquid when they
> were washed. Call me lazy, but if I'm cleaning several pounds of mushrooms,
> I'm not going to wipe them one by one with a cloth.
> 
> IIRC, Gourmet magazine also did a study on this by weighing out a pound of
> mushrooms and a pound of broccoli. They then washed them both, and
> reweighed them. The mushrooms had gained the same amount of weight as the
> broccoli, a ounce or two, most likely due to not being dried off. No one
> accuses broccoli of soaking up water when washed!

Except that the water that adheres to the little floret buds of broccoli
by capillary action is relatively easy to remove, and doesn't cause the
broccoli to become dark brown and soggy, and to release that much more
liquid in the cooking process.
 
> On the other hand, I've never had to wash my shitake mushrooms as I grow
> them myself and they are spotless when they come off the log, so I have no
> idea how mushrooms other than buttons take to being washed.

They oxidize very quickly, becoming dark brown and soggy. At least white
champignons, a.k.a. "button mushrooms", do. I will occasionally cut
them, or sometimes leave them whole, rinse them in a colander, and
immediately blanch them or add them to the pan or pot. That works pretty
well. I assume different mushrooms have different enzymes and such, not
to mention a different gill structure and water absorbtion rate. I
haven't dealt with non-gilled mushrooms, such as tubed boletus or
porcinis, in fresh form in sufficient quantity to require washing.
 
I remember being told by the chef I interned with that people eat ocean
fish for the flavor of the sea, and mushrooms for the flavor of the
forest, and that only a fool would wash the flavor off the mushrooms.
Hey, that's what he said, and it probably makes about as much sense in
the long run as any more scientific explanation, but I used to have to
prep maybe 20 pounds of wild mushrooms in a day, and had to wipe them.
But some were better than others, and you develop a very quick and
discerning eye as to which mushrooms actually need wiping, and which are
all right as is. (Somebody in an event kitchen a while back was very
surprised when I spotted a tiny fish bone in a bowl about twenty feet
away, walked over and removed it, and walked away without saying
anything. I overheard something muttered about Cooks'-Ray Vision.)

> p.s. Anyone in florida know if we can grow morels down here? I'm tempted to
> start a patch...

I suppose it's possible, but I suspect that the reason they're native to
the northern half of the country involves climate. Give it a shot if you wanna.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com