What to Cook With Mushrooms: 10 Ideas That Actually Brown

Mushrooms have a reputation for being slimy and grey, and it is almost entirely a cooking problem. A mushroom is about 92 percent water by weight. Put a punnet in a crowded pan and that water comes out faster than it can evaporate, and while it is sitting there the pan surface stays close to the boiling point of water. Browning needs a good deal more heat than that, so nothing happens and the mushrooms simmer.

The honest version of the rule is that crowding delays browning rather than preventing it. A crowded pan will get there in the end if you hold your nerve and keep the heat on. A wide pan just gets you there faster and with less oil soaked up along the way.

The Pan Rule, in Order

1. Use the widest pan you own. Surface area is where the water leaves.
2. Get it hot before anything goes in. A drop of water should skitter, not sit.
3. Add a little oil, then the mushrooms. A single layer is ideal; two batches beat one crowded batch on time, not on whether it works at all.
4. Leave them alone for two to three minutes. They will release water and it will look wrong. Wait.
5. Once the water has boiled off, the sizzle changes pitch and they start to brown. Now toss them.
6. Only now add salt, butter, garlic and herbs, and give it another minute or two.

The Washing Argument, Settled

You will read that mushrooms must never be washed because they absorb water like a sponge. They do not. Harold McGee tested it and found that 252 g of mushrooms soaked for a full five minutes took on only about 6 g of water, under three percent. The reason is the same statistic as above: they are already mostly water, so there is not much room for more.

What matters is that they go into the pan dry on the surface. Rinse them quickly under cool running water if they are gritty, pat them properly dry, and get on with it. Do not leave them sitting submerged. Wild mushrooms, morels in particular, genuinely do need a proper wash for grit.

Four Things in Under Fifteen Minutes

• Garlic butter mushrooms: the pan rule, then butter, sliced garlic, thyme and a splash of something acidic at the end. On their own, on toast, or next to a steak.
• Mushrooms on toast: the same pan, finished with a spoon of creme fraiche or a crumble of blue cheese, piled onto proper toasted bread.
• Mushroom omelette: brown them first in the pan, tip them out, make the omelette, fold them back in. Never cook them in the eggs.
• Mushroom stir-fry: high heat, soy, garlic, ginger, spring onion. Mushrooms take a wok better than most vegetables because they are already built for hard heat.

Six Dinners Built on Mushrooms

• Mushroom pasta: browned mushrooms, garlic, a splash of cream or a spoon of mascarpone, parmesan and plenty of pasta water to bring it together.
• Mushroom risotto: the one dish where the soaking liquid, if you are using dried porcini, is worth more than the mushrooms.
• Mushroom ragu: chopped small and browned hard, then treated exactly like a meat ragu with onion, tomato and a long simmer. It is the most convincing meat-free bolognese there is.
• Creamy mushroom soup: brown them properly first, then blend. Skipping the browning is why most mushroom soup tastes of nothing.
• Mushroom and spinach pie: browned mushrooms, wilted spinach, a bechamel or creme fraiche base, puff pastry on top.
• Mushroom burger: a big flat portobello, cooked gill side up so it holds its juices, in a bun with cheese and something sharp.

Which Mushrooms to Buy

• Chestnut or cremini: the default. Firmer and more flavourful than white button, usually only slightly more expensive. They are the same species, picked later.
• White button: fine, mild, cheap. Better in a sauce than on their own.
• Portobello: the same mushroom again, fully grown. Big, meaty, good for burgers and for stuffing. Scrape the gills out if you want a cleaner-looking dish.
• Oyster: cook fast and go crisp at the edges. Excellent torn and fried hard.
• Dried porcini: a small bag lasts months and turns an ordinary mushroom dish into a serious one. Soak them and keep the liquid.

Mushrooms also freeze well once cooked, which they do not raw. Brown a double batch and freeze half, the same logic our double batch meal prep guide applies to everything else, and you have the base of a pasta or a soup ready to go.

A Punnet Is Not a Plan

Browned mushrooms want a fat, an acid and a starch. Butter, lemon, toast. Cream, parmesan, pasta. Soy, vinegar, rice. Get those three around them and the punnet becomes dinner. The technique that gets you there is the same one behind how to sear meat: dry surface, hot pan, do not touch it.