SC - mushrooms

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    I cook professionally, and as far as white button mushrooms go, I
usually just rinse them where necessary under running water, caps up.
Sometimes they come in pretty filthy, poorly trained harvesters, I suspect.
Never had a problem with excessive water absorption, but then, I never soak
them, either. If they get wet, you want to use them as soon as possible, or
cover them with a moist towel.
    Don't wash Portobellos or any of the spongiform fungi, as they will suck
liquids up like mad and you'll have a fungoo (no fun a-tall!) instead. You
can marinade them, though, (I do a balsamic marinade for Portobellos that'll
blow your toenails off) for an interesting treatment, especially if you
grill them.

    Sieggy

> >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.
>
> Yep, but only if I'm going to be cooking them right away.  If they get
> washed (or wet) and sit for any length of time, they turn brown and mushy
> much faster.  But right before I cook 'em, I have never seen the point in
> brushing.  Call me a Philistine. ;/
> Christianna