Mushroom dishes enliven any meal, filling it with forest aromas and providing benefits. To fully enjoy the unforgettable taste, you need to know how to prepare dried mushrooms, how to soak them in water and how long it will take. Fresh mushrooms are also soaked, but not all. It is important to adhere to technology so that the caps do not become soggy. Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to prepare dry and fresh mushrooms.
Where to get them and how to choose
In most hypermarkets you can find dried mushrooms in the produce section. There are many different types to choose from, including shiitake and porcini mushrooms. Each type has its own distinctive flavor profile and is used in a variety of recipes.
If you don't see dried mushrooms in the produce section, check the spice aisle. This product is sometimes classified as a flavoring rather than a vegetable.
Shiitake, matsutake and other woody varieties are commonly found in Asian soups and sauces, while porcini and chanterelle mushrooms are key ingredients in savory stews and European-style stews. The variety you choose will usually determine how long you will cook dried mushrooms for a particular dish.
Attention, special feature!
There is a subtlety in how to properly cook dried porcini mushrooms. Experts insist that boletus mushrooms should be soaked not in water, but in milk, and not in cold, but warm. Then the final dish will be especially aromatic, and its taste will acquire a refined tenderness.
This move can probably be applied not only to porcini mushrooms. If you are not inclined to skimp on trifles, you can try soaking any variety of mushrooms in milk. And compare with a control batch kept in water.
Rehydrating Dried Mushrooms
Cook the mushrooms and place them in a colander or strainer. Run them under cold running water, tossing them every few seconds to remove any remaining dirt that has landed on the surface.
Most recipes that call for dried mushrooms will show dry amounts, making them easy to measure. It is very difficult to determine the weight of the product after soaking in advance.
Place the freshly washed mushrooms in the bottom of a deep bowl. Make sure they are concentrated near the center of the container so they have enough room to expand as they absorb moisture.
Fill the bowl with enough water to completely submerge the dried mushrooms. Some cooks prefer to use hot water because they believe it helps the food quickly return to its original size and texture. However, warm water at room temperature will generally be the best option.
There is a possibility that hot water may wash out the smell of mushrooms. According to this premise, they are best used for recipes that call for broth. Using hot water is justified if you are in a hurry and do not have time for long soaking. How long you need to cook dried mushrooms after soaking depends on their type and the dish you are going to prepare.
How about frying?
That we are all about soups and soups. Since it’s no secret to us how to cook dried mushrooms, it’s time to remember the second courses. Mushrooms fried with onions will be an excellent side dish for meat and poultry. To do this, the soaked dried meat needs to be boiled, but less time is allocated for this stage - about ten minutes after boiling. Then the mushrooms are strained out of the liquid as much as possible - just enough time to cut the onion into half rings.
Now you need to melt the butter in a frying pan - it is ideal for realizing your idea. Onion chips are first fried on it, and after it is browned, strained mushrooms are fried. It is necessary to fry with intense stirring, since butter has less resistance to sticking than vegetable oil. At the very end, the mushrooms are salted, peppered and flavored with selected spices.
Don’t deprive yourself of gastronomic pleasure because it’s “out of season,” since cooking dried mushrooms is no more difficult than fresh ones.
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Are there any differences for porcini mushrooms?
How to cook porcini mushrooms? This variety is not called “real” for nothing. The taste and smell of these mushrooms is unique. In fact, they can be used to prepare almost any dish, from soups to complex sauces. Their broth is as rich and satisfying as a piece of meat on the bone. At the same time, they are much easier to prepare than other types.
How long does it take to boil porcini mushrooms? To fry or sauté them, boiling them only takes 15 minutes. To prepare the soup you will need more time: 20-30 minutes. Don't cook them longer or the flavor will start to dissipate.
Useful tips
Even if the basis of the dish is fresh mushrooms (for example, champignons or oyster mushrooms), it is worth adding at least a small portion of dried ones to them. This way the treat will ultimately become more flavorful and appetizing. This is true for soups, any main courses, even salads and sauces.
To cook dried mushrooms deliciously, they are first soaked in water. But you can also fill them with broth, milk, cream. Afterwards, the mushrooms are chopped or left whole, boiled, fried, baked, or added to any chosen dishes.
How to soak dried mushrooms
Dried mushrooms are a fragrant reminder of warm summer and generous autumn. When dry, they are easy to store. They do not take up much space and expand 6-10 times when soaked. That is, if, according to the recipe, it is advisable to add 300 grams of the freshest mushrooms to a dish, then in dry form the equivalent will be 50 grams.
How to soak dry workpiece?
- Place the mushrooms in a clean bowl, add water and rub thoroughly with your hands. Drain the water.
- Pour water over the mushrooms in a ratio of 1 to 10. Leave for 1-8 hours.
What water should you soak dried mushrooms in?
To soak mushrooms, use clean water at room temperature. To speed up the swelling process, you can warm it up a little.
Under no circumstances should you pour boiling water over dry foods. Then you will get aromatic water, and the mushrooms will become tasteless and tough.
If you need to quickly add an ingredient to a dish, it would be more correct to grind the dry preparation and use it as a seasoning.
How long to soak mushrooms for soup
For soup, broth is of great importance. When soaking dried mushrooms, most of the necessary substances and smell are given to it by water. Therefore, it is not drained, but filtered and used in cooking. If the mushrooms are dirty, pour water over them 2 times. First time: for 30 minutes to wash thoroughly.
How long does it take to soak before making the soup?
- Minimum - 2 hours.
- Maximum - 8 hours.
Woody Chinese mushrooms, which are sold in briquettes, last longer than others. You can leave them to soak in water overnight.
In general, it is better to focus not on time, but on the degree of swelling and softness of the mushrooms. If they are cut into thin leaves, the process may take even less time: 10-15 minutes.
After soaking, the water often has sediment in the form of particles of dirt and sand. Therefore, only the upper transparent part is taken for the broth, and the rest is drained.
How long to soak mushrooms for frying
Dried mushrooms are also soaked before frying. But in this option it is important not to overexpose them in water.
How long should it take to start frying? The correct answer is in 2-3 hours. After this time, the mushrooms should be thoroughly rubbed with your hands, rinsed with running water and placed in a colander to drain.
If you plan to use porcini mushrooms for frying, experienced chefs recommend using full-fat milk instead of water. What delicious and juicy mushrooms you get! The soaking process takes the same amount of time. First, the mushrooms are thoroughly washed and the milk is boiled.
So, soaking mushrooms is a fairly simple task. The main thing is to understand what kind of water they should be in. It is better to use clean water at room temperature. The duration of the procedure may vary. If these are dry preparations, then it is better to focus on appearance. Have the mushrooms swelled, filled up, become soft? Time to start cooking!
Is it appropriate to soak porcini mushrooms before cooking?
It is known that mushrooms cannot be soaked in water before drying, so this function should be performed before preparing the dish. Most housewives agree with the idea that using dried mushrooms is very beneficial. Firstly, they can be purchased at a hypermarket or market at any time of the year. Secondly, dried mushrooms are stored much longer without losing their beneficial properties and pleasant smell. Thirdly, they will not take up much space in the kitchen.
Some housewives are interested in whether it is necessary to soak porcini mushrooms? It must be said that the quality of the prepared product will depend on this process.
It is recommended to soak porcini mushrooms in clean cold water, but they must be checked by touch. It should be borne in mind that the amount of dried mushrooms should be taken an order of magnitude less than fresh ones.
When soaked, they swell, increasing several times in size. Therefore, you should not take a lot of product to make one dish, only a handful that fits in the palm of your hand.
How to soak porcini mushrooms in salted water and milk
It must be said that from time to time housewives grind porcini mushrooms into powder and immediately add them to broths or sauces, without pre-soaking. But this doesn't happen often, especially if you want to see mushroom pieces on the plate.
In this option, it is recommended to soak the porcini mushrooms in salted water at the rate of ⅟₂ tbsp salt per 500 ml of water. Salt is necessary for deeper cleaning from dirt and small grains of sand, if any.
Some used milk instead of water. Is it appropriate to soak porcini mushrooms in milk? It turns out that this product perfectly replaces water, and also rinses and cleans fruiting bodies well.
In this case, the taste and smell of the mushroom is preserved in its original form. The soaking function itself is very simple; you just need to follow certain recommendations. To do this, it is advisable to warm the milk a little and pour it over the mushrooms.
Then leave for a while, but at the same time check them by touch. If you see that the fruiting bodies are ready for the next process, drain the milk. You can crush the mushrooms a little with your hands to release any unnecessary water. Then you can safely proceed to the desired culinary “operations”. As mentioned, it's completely easy to soak porcini mushrooms in milk and the taste and smell are still incredible.
How long should you cook dried mushrooms after soaking?
It is worth noting that not all dried mushrooms are suitable for cooking. Some types give a specific bitter taste and are great for sauces. In general, the length of time to cook dried mushrooms depends on the type and whether they have been pre-soaked. If the soaking process was omitted for some reason, then the preparation of dried mushrooms will be quite lengthy, sometimes this procedure can take from 6 to 8 hours.
Mushrooms, pre-soaked in water or milk, cook on average for 30-40 minutes. But most experienced housewives determine how to cook mushrooms without time. If you hold the pan by both handles and lift it, the cooked mushrooms will settle to the bottom, while the raw ones will float to the top.
Required cooking time
Pre-soaked dried mushrooms are cooked for no more than 30-40 minutes. This will be enough for the product to be completely usable. The broth from soaked porcini mushrooms cooks even faster - 20 minutes. It’s easy to determine the readiness of a dish - well-cooked mushrooms sink to the bottom of the pan. If several “instances” float on the surface, the cooking time should be increased a little more.
Typically, experienced housewives use the time it takes to prepare broth to their advantage. In half an hour you can have time to fry the soup and prepare vegetables and cereals. As a rule, the cooking time for cereals almost coincides with the cooking time for mushrooms, so these two processes can be combined. Add the cereal to the mushrooms as soon as the water boils - this way the soup will cook very quickly.
But you can cook dry forest delicacies without soaking. If for some reason you decide not to soak the mushrooms, you need to boil them for at least an hour and a half. But remember that prolonged heat treatment worsens the taste of the product, so it is better to take care of the preliminary preparation of mushrooms in advance.
Cooking porcini mushrooms correctly
Porcini mushrooms are considered real not only for their impressive appearance, but also for their pleasant taste and smell. Beautiful juliennes, stews, rich soups and cold appetizers are prepared from this type of mushroom. In its richness and caloric content, porcini mushroom is not inferior to meat bone broths. How long should you cook porcini mushrooms?
Cooking porcini mushroom is very simple and even faster than other types. For the soup, 20-30 minutes will be enough, and for subsequent frying, the mushrooms are cooked for only 15 minutes. Only dried champignons cook faster. Cut into pieces, they cook for only 5 minutes.
How to make dried mushroom soup
Ingredients:
- Dried white mushrooms - 100 gr
- Potatoes - 3 pcs.,
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Noodles - 3 tbsp. l.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Sour cream, butter, parsley, peppercorns and salt - to taste.
Preparation:
- Soak dried mushrooms in cold water for 3 hours, then cook in the same water for 30 minutes, add salt.
- Remove the cooked dried mushrooms from the pan and chop if necessary.
- Peel, chop and fry the onion until golden brown, peel the carrots and add to the onion, then add the mushrooms and fry for 7 minutes.
- Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan and season with salt. Add finely chopped potatoes to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes. Leave for another 10 minutes.
- Serve soup of boiled dried mushrooms with chopped herbs, fresh white bread and thick sour cream.
Cheese soup
One of the best options for preparing mushroom soup from dried mushrooms. The main component is soaked, boiled, and crushed. The mushroom broth is salted and potato cubes are dropped into it. While it is boiling, fry the chopped onion, and later add mushrooms to it. The frying is added to the pan, and vermicelli is poured in almost immediately (it is better to take small ones). When it is almost ready (check the instructions on the package for cooking time), add processed cheese. Stir the soup until the last component is completely dissolved. Before serving, the soup is infused in a saucepan with a lid for 5-10 minutes.
Grated dried mushroom soup recipe
The way the soup is made is delicious because it contains very finely chopped mushrooms. In addition, this cooking method does not require long-term infusion of dried mushrooms, so it can be prepared very quickly. In some ways it may resemble cream soup.
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Number of servings: 11
Ingredients:
- dried porcini mushrooms - 200 g;
- carrots - 2 pcs.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- celery (root) - 300 g;
- chicken egg - 3 pcs.;
- lemon - 1 pc.;
- water - 2 l;
- sunflower oil - 3 tablespoons;
- salt to taste;
- dill leaves - to taste;
- parsley to taste.
Tip: if you don’t have dried porcini mushrooms in your arsenal, you can replace them with other wild mushrooms. For example, saffron milk caps are ideal.
Preparation:
- Hard-boil the eggs for 12 minutes from the moment the water boils, then place in ice water. This will avoid subsequent boiling of the eggs due to their own high temperature and will greatly facilitate the cleaning process. Remove the shell.
- Grate the carrots on a coarse grater along with the celery and fry in a small amount of refined oil, adding a finely chopped onion.
- Boil the required amount of water in a pan and add the fried cooked vegetables. Cook for about 10 minutes.
- In the bowl of a blender (you can use a regular coffee grinder), puree the mushrooms until powdered.
- Add mushroom powder to the pan in small portions, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
- Add spices and cook for no more than ⅟₄ hour.
- Remove the soup from the stove and let it sit for a while.
- When poured into plates, garnish with halves of hard-boiled eggs, citrus slices and herbs.
Dried Mushroom and Noodle Soup Recipe
This aromatic and simple soup will perfectly diversify your daily diet.
Cooking time: 1 hour
Number of servings: 10
Ingredients:
- dried mushrooms - 100 g;
- potatoes - 3 pcs.;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- large onion - 1 pc.;
- butter - 50 g;
- water - 2 l;
- noodles - 4 tablespoons;
- salt to taste.
Tip: For those who are against pasta soup, there is a good alternative: rice. But before you add cereal to the soup, you must sort it thoroughly and rinse it several times.
Cooking process step by step:
- Soak the mushrooms if time permits. The longer the better.
- When the mushrooms have softened, remove them from the water using a slotted spoon, rinse them and chop them finely.
- Strain the mushroom broth through several layers of gauze, pour into a saucepan and add plain water. Boil it.
- Add peeled and finely chopped potatoes, add a little salt.
- On a nearby burner in a frying pan, melt the butter and fry the finely chopped onion and grated carrots. After 3 minutes, add mushrooms.
- Place the roast in a pot of soup. Cook until the potatoes are almost softened, not forgetting the salt and seasonings. Add noodles.
- After a few minutes, throw in the greens, cover with a lid and let stand, removing from heat.
Tip: Although it is recommended to infuse mushrooms, it is not necessary. It is enough to boil them well, but it will take much longer.
Bean option
To make this soup, you need to soak both the mushrooms and beans separately. Then cook them separately as well. Chopped onions are fried in a frying pan (there should be a lot of them) with mushrooms added to them after they have acquired a “tan.” Next, the contents of the frying pan and the beans are transferred to the broth cooked in advance, and the soup is cooked for another ten minutes so that its ingredients are saturated with each other’s taste. After removing the pan from the stove, add the greens to the dish.
How to dry mushrooms at home
It is necessary to clean and wash the mushrooms, to dry them at home, cut large parts of the mushrooms: caps into slices approximately 3x3 cm in size, legs into circles. String pieces of mushrooms onto a strong thread (caps separately, as they dry faster, stems separately).
Hang the strings with mushrooms in a dry and sunny place, at some distance from each other. Cover with gauze to protect against insects. Store in the sun for 7-9 days, storing the finished mushrooms in jars. Store in glass jars in a dry, dark place. This way mushrooms can be stored for up to 5 years.
