How to dry-sautee mushrooms for eating or storage!

Have a lot of mushrooms (or even a few) that you would like to save in the freezer, or mushrooms you would like to eat now without the water they contain diluting your dish? Dry Sautee them first!

Dry Sauteeing them will bring out their true flavor, while ridding them of the water that can make delicate dishes like souflees limp and soggy.
For some mushrooms, like these chanterelles, dry sauteeing is the only way to make them truly edible. This instructable will show you how!

Step 1: Aquire and clean mushrooms

Get your boyfriend's dad to give you 5+ pounds of wild chanterelle mushrooms.
(I admit this step could be difficult.)
Failing this, hunt for your own wild mushrooms with a mushroom expert, or buy them at the store. Any kind of mushrooms will work, including those plain old white ones. (this makes even regular ones taste good).

Sort, trim and clean the mushrooms you buy/find. If they are wild (like these) you may need to trim out the rotten spots and brush off forest dirt.

Step 2: Chop 'em up

Dice your mushrooms into small chunks with a good sharp knife.
Keep in mind that when you sautee them they will shrink significantly!

Step 3: Sautee away

Put your diced mushrooms into a pan and turn the heat to medium. You will need to stir to keep them from burning!
As you cook them, water will be drawn out of the mushrooms.
Cook them on medium until all of the water is gone from the pan.

Step 4: Save them for later, if you can...

Mushrooms prepared this way can be used for a variety of things: filling for ravioli or souflees, tossed with fresh pasta and butter, stirred into rissotto or soups, tossed with salads etc. The dry-sautee brings out a rich meaty flavor in mushrooms that goes well with most typical mushroom dishes.

I managed to save some of mine in the freezer for non-chanterelle season (difficult).
enjoy!

Comments

[allan3]

I have had great results dehydrating them. 3-4 lbs dehydrate down to fit in an approximately pint size jar. Keep tightly capped. To rehydrate just soak in water for 30 minutes or throw them in your sauce. Umm Umm good.

[fegundez1]

how do you freeze mushrooms raw?

[Robyntheslug]

You can freeze them prior to cooking, but they would not be particularly edible when they came out. (They can get slimy and disgusting). You really have to cook them a bit first, though you can also dehydrate them to save them.

[Anathema13]

I usually go up to 11,000 ft in Colorado in August and harvest my own wild chanterelles. Found the best way to freeze them is to completely immerse them in water or chicken broth, let them suspend in the liquid, and then either toss the liquid or use it as a stock when you go to thaw them. They are mostly water anyway, so the surrounding liquid helps protect them and prevents freezer burn. If you use the broth, you can make a really nice clear soup with sauteed red pepper, a bit of fresh rosemary, and some natural (sauteed) chicken breast, and some wild onions.

[Phoghat]

Quick and easy and delicious ravioli. Buy about 1/4 prosciuotto dice, saute with some mushrooms (any kind, I like porto bello) Buy wonton skins at Asian market Add about 1 tsp filling to middle of wonton skin put another on top after moistening edges, press closed. Boil until they float. Melt butter and saute ravioli and serve with butter and fresh rosemary.

[Gthing 2.0]

cool i will try this today. And i have a ? is true that boiling pionus mushrooms neturalizes the poinus

[Peter3D]

pionus ? poinus ? Poisonous or toxic !

[Robyntheslug]

Woah, not usually! Never eat a mushroom you have doubts about! There are Old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters! If you're eating wild ones, have them checked out by an expert first until you're really familiar with them.

[canida]

Not necessarily. I'd recommend staying far away from poisonous mushrooms, and only eating mushrooms you're SURE are safe.

[ewilhelm]

Get your boyfriend's dad to give you 5+ pounds of wild chanterelle mushrooms.

Holy cow! Can I come over for dinner!

[Robyntheslug]

Not like I didn't have enough! =D
(Heh, they're still in my freezer, if squid labs ever does a SC area event )

But it is really sweet of him to share the wealth! Besides which, we get dried/frozen wild mushrooms in food he makes pretty regularly.

[canida]

Looks great! You're entirely too lucky. I want to come for dinner too!

[trebuchet03]

Hrmmm... I've never frozen my fungi foods :P Can you throw frozen fungi right into heat? Or do they need to be slowly thawed first?

[Robyntheslug]

Well, personally, I would thaw them first (because it's hard to fit a bucket of frozen fungi into a saucepan). But if they are loose after being frozen I bet you could just throw them in.