Mushrooms are one food I can rarely say ‘no’ too. I love every variety, and love mushrooms in every style of use. Fried, sautéed, broiled, chopped, stewed, you get the idea. Mushrooms are so good, and yes they are good for you. Never liking canned mushrooms I always buy mushrooms from the produce section of my market. I try very hard to avoid mushrooms that have been wrapped in plastic and would rather pick through a bin of mushrooms to find the perfect, uniform size for my recipe. Large portabella mushrooms are often difficult for me to find not wrapped in plastic. I look for mushrooms, even through the plastic, that are a solid color and look dry and firm. Once home I am careful to immediately store any mushrooms in paper (see blog: Keep Your Mushrooms Fresh!) to increase their shelf life.
Large portabellas are on the pricey side so I do not want to waste one single part. After I have wiped the mushrooms with a barely damp paper towel to remove any soil I snap out the stem as close to its top as possible. Snap, not cut. The chunky little stems are great chopped and added to sauces and meats. Thrown into a soup or stock they add good flavor. Once the stems are removed I use a spoon to carefully scrape out as many of the gills found on the underside of the mushroom cap as possible. These rarely see the compost bin! If the gills are straight and tight I keep them and use them in my food. If the gills look fluffy and you can see irregular spaces between them I discard them. I seldom find gills I don’t reuse. The feathery gills are set on paper towel to air dry. After a few days on my counter and totally dry I store them in a paper bag just like mushrooms, but not in the refrigerator. These dried gills are little unique flavor jewels. I use them for a garnish on many foods from salads to omelets. They are wonderful stirred into sour cream to top potatoes and so nice mixed into meatballs. Be careful using fresh gills that you have not dried. Do not over stir them as they may add a brown color to foods you may not appreciate. My favorite use is to sprinkle them on cod before it is baked in the oven.
The next time you buy mushrooms store them to last as long as possible, and use every single bit – you will impress yourself with your thriftiness!
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