In October 2006 we were visiting Siena for a week of Italian classes and staying in a very cute apartment with a basic kitchen and a spectacular view over the rooftops of the town.
I was dying to cook with porcini and so we went to the weekly market to pick some prime specimens for a simple dinner of pasta with porcini, mixed herbs and pecorino.
I made the fatal error of washing the porcini rather than cleaning them carefully with a soft dry brush and so they were soggy, albeit tasty all the same.
Referring to the orange bible, Stephanie Alexander says that “the best rule with mushrooms is to prepare them as little as possible”, with no need to wash or peel either wild or cultivated mushrooms. She suggests simply wiping away dirt with a damp cloth.
Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers in their second River Café Cookbook suggest the soft dry brush method and have a wonderful recipe for wood-roasting whole porcini with thyme and pancetta and garlic.
In their Tuscan Cookbook, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander argue that porcini need to be inspected closely as the stems can be wormy; good mushrooms should have “firm and dense stems” with “a smooth rather than chalky texture”.
I can’t tell you how long I have been washing and peeling mushrooms, not so much the exotics or the browns but the normal caps and buttons. I will cease and desist and the next time I am in Tuscany will know how not to cook porcini.
I was dying to cook with porcini and so we went to the weekly market to pick some prime specimens for a simple dinner of pasta with porcini, mixed herbs and pecorino.
I made the fatal error of washing the porcini rather than cleaning them carefully with a soft dry brush and so they were soggy, albeit tasty all the same.
Referring to the orange bible, Stephanie Alexander says that “the best rule with mushrooms is to prepare them as little as possible”, with no need to wash or peel either wild or cultivated mushrooms. She suggests simply wiping away dirt with a damp cloth.
Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers in their second River Café Cookbook suggest the soft dry brush method and have a wonderful recipe for wood-roasting whole porcini with thyme and pancetta and garlic.
In their Tuscan Cookbook, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander argue that porcini need to be inspected closely as the stems can be wormy; good mushrooms should have “firm and dense stems” with “a smooth rather than chalky texture”.
I can’t tell you how long I have been washing and peeling mushrooms, not so much the exotics or the browns but the normal caps and buttons. I will cease and desist and the next time I am in Tuscany will know how not to cook porcini.
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