I’ve been getting dried wood ear mushrooms at an Asian grocery to add to ramen for a while, and it’s a game changer. I just put it in a mug of boiling water for a few minutes and then add it into the soup.
I recently got some dried shiitake, and that’s an ingredient that I wish I’d known about before. You rehydrate them in boiling water and leave them for a few hours. After that, squeeze them out and prepare them like fresh mushrooms. Retain the water that you soaked them in and you can use it to infuse that mushroom flavor into whatever you’re cooking. I made a mushroom gravy over rice yesterday, and it was great.
I think even people who don’t normally like the texture of mushrooms might enjoy them; they’ve got a bit more of a “meaty” texture than fresh ones, not quite so spongy. You can also grind them up while they’re dry and add savory mushroom flavor to anything.
It’s a great way to always have mushrooms on hand. Do you have a way that you like to prepare them?
Space Travel
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I have seen dried mushrooms and never purchased them before. I love mushrooms but I only get them fresh which are mostly cremini and sometimes shiitake. I think I will have to purchase some because its great to just throw them into dishes.
If you have some really flavorful dried mushrooms, save the water you used for rehydration. Makes a great soup stock.
Rehydrated or fresh, I think most people undercook their mushrooms. Even bland supermarlet cremini/portobello is greatly improved by pan frying until it gets slightly crispy and seared.
When I’m making something with fresh criminis I like to rehydrate some motels and porcinis to throw in. Not necessarily because they’re dried, I just never have those fresh. But they add such good, deep flavor and umami.
I could never get down with wood ears, sitting about the texture gives me the ick. But totally agree on shiitakes. Shiitakes and kombu soaked in water makes a great base broth–basically a vegan dashi. Sometimes I’ll even just sip it with a dab of miso, like a savory tea.
The texture is my favorite thing about wood ears, but I can see why some people wouldn’t like it; it’s definitely not for everyone. I’ve got some miso garlic I’ve been fermenting, maybe I’ll try to make a garlic and mushroom miso soup soon. Thanks for the idea!
I should look for some dried morels, I’ve heard they’re delicious. I think mushrooms are some of the tastiest things on the planet.
Grind dry mushroom into powder then add where ever you need that extra umami kick.
Stew, chilli, braise
Even added them to mash potatos lol
How do they have to be stored like that? Instant mash is one of my go tos when I’m feeling particularly bad, but they don’t exactly taste amazing on their own.
Deff don’t store mushroom powder or at least not long term, it will lose flavour.
Buy whole mashrooms from asian grocery, they are cheap there. Grind them as needed with coffee grinder.
Ah, that’s a shame. It would be really handy to be able to prepare a batch in advance. I’ll just have to try small batches and see how much I use. Thanks for replying :)
I mean just for an “umami kick”, you could just go to the same store and pick up a bag of MSG.
I’ve never used MSG, do you just add it during cooking, or do you have to do anything special to it? I’ve seen it compared to salt, but that’s about it.
I’ve seen it compared to salt, but that’s about it.
Yeah, that’s about it. Obviously what it brings is different but yeah I’d say the amounts you use are comparable.
Uncle Roger perhaps overdoes it a bit. I used to use some sort of dries mushroom umami mix that’s found in all the shops here, but it wasn’t as good and even a little moisture near the spices in the kitchen and it would clump up. So I got a bag of msg from an asian store.
5/5 got to say.
MSG was considered like a synthetic additive for ages, but it’s completely natural. It’s a sodium salt of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid. Not that something being “natural” makes it healthy (god I hate the naturalistic fallacy), but still, just wanted to point that out.
That’s cool, I’ll give it a try, thanks :)
About 10 years ago, I bought a ridiculously large bag of dried shiitakes online. I’m almost to the end of the bag now lol. Over the years, I learned to skip the step of soaking the shrooms in hot water if they were being added to soups or anything liquidy enough that was also being heated. So just throw them into your bowl of ramen before adding water and cooking, that way you get the extra flavor and save some time and energy
I sometimes use them in beef stew, but the idea of using them to enhance the store ramen sounds great!
I’ll throw all kinds of things in there: ham, fish balls, kimchi, egg (soft boiled or fried), bacon, sprouts, peas, corn, seaweed, whatever I have on hand. The wood ear mushrooms (sometimes called black fungus) are amazing in it, I pretty much always keep some on hand just for that.
I use Shiitake mushrooms for Bibimbap (Korean dish), super tasty!
That looks delicious! I’ll have to give it a try sometime.
Dried chantrelles + gumbo = super yum.
I never thought of putting them in gumbo before.
I was actually just thinking this last weekend that I should try making a gumbo soon, I’ll have to give it a shot!
I keep a few 2 oz boxes of dried wild mushrooms around for pantry risotto, or to add to stews.
