Here’s Your Guide To Cooking With Mushrooms

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When it comes to mushrooms, you can always guarantee they’ll add an unrivaled flavor to your recipe. Mushrooms are known for having an umami taste, which is considered the fifth taste sense next to sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

Adding hearty meaty mushrooms to your dish can be an easy way to amp up the flavor and save money that you’d otherwise spend on protein. This is one vegetable (well really fungi) that you’re better off cooking. Mushrooms release more of their nutrients when they’re heated. Here’s a guide to picking the perfect mushroom for your dish.

Chanterelles

Flickr/Charles de Mille-Isles

Characteristics: Dense, meaty, nutty, golden color, fruity and peppery
Culinary Use: Sauteed in butter, pasta, steak, pickled or added to an omelet

Morels 

Flickr/Ketzirah Lesser & Art Drauglis

Characteristics: Sponge-like in appearance, hollow, rubbery, brittle, savory, bold and chewy
Culinary Use: Fried, pasta, cream sauce, pizza, quiche and served with meats and other umami flavors

Enoki

Flickr/m.shattock

Characteristics: Long stems, little caps, bean sprout-like appearance, mild and crunchy
Culinary Use: Asian cooking, salads, sandwiches, soups, pasta sauces or served raw

Cremini 

pxhere

Characteristics: Also known as baby bella, light cocoa color, firm, rich, earthy and meaty
Culinary Use: Sauteed, stuffed, pasta, mixed with veggies, risotto, roasted, wrapped in bacon or mixed with burrata and herbs for bruschetta

Portobello

Unsplash/Harshal S. Hirve

Characteristics: Large crimini mushrooms, savory, meaty and mild
Culinary Use: Meat substitute, grilled, stuffed, baked and in stir-frys

Oyster

Characteristics: Slightly resembles an actual oyster with gills, fan-shaped, white to very light brown in color, delicate, tender and smells sweet like licorice
Culinary Use: Mushroom ragout, roasted with scallions, salads, stir-frys, noodle soups, fried or stewed

Hen Of The Woods

Flickr/Peter O’Connor

Characteristics: Also known as maitake, translates to “dancing mushrooms” in Japanese, delicate, flowery, packed with earthy and rich flavors and pale tan to dark brown in color
Culinary Use: Japanese cooking, lightly sauteed, garnish, pasta, eggs and risotto

Shiitake

Flickr/Jeffreyw

Characteristics: Tan to dark brown in color, tough, woody, earthy, savory and meaty
Culinary Use: Common in Asian cooking, meat dishes, soups, sauces, stir-frys, sauteed, seafood or pasta

Button

Flickr/Flowercarole

Characteristics: Most common in grocery stores, also known as white mushrooms, subtle, earthy, available year-round and varies in size
Culinary Use: Sauteed, stuffed, cream sauces, stir-frys, quiche, sauces or soups

Porcini

Flickr/Jinx McCombs

Characteristics: Meaty, similar to portobello in texture, high in protein, nutty, creamy, light brown, slightly sticky and ranges from one inch to 10 inches in size
Culinary Use: Vegetarian dishes, pasta, soups, sauces, fried, risotto, bruschetta, pizza, topping for meat dishes, grilled or cooked with butter.