For Best Sautéed Mushrooms, Boil Them First.
Everyone knows that moisture is the enemy of the Maillard reaction , which makes it difficult to brown ingredients that release water during cooking. But oddly enough, the secret to better (and faster) sautéing mushrooms is cooking them in water: boiling the mushrooms before pan frying actually helps brown them.
Just like soaking tofu in boiling salted water , boiling mushrooms dries them out a bit. Boiled mushrooms brown faster and more evenly than raw ones; you don’t have to wait for them to cook, so you don’t have to worry too much about overfilling the pot. As long as they are in contact with a hot, oiled pan, the boiled mushrooms will brown well. This is a quick and easy way to make cooking with mushrooms easier.
To try it yourself, simply cook the mushrooms however you like and put a half-full pot of heavily salted water to a simmer. (You need plenty of room for the mushrooms.) Add the mushrooms to the boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring to make sure all the pieces cook evenly. Then drain them in a colander, shake off as much water as possible (use a salad bowl if you have one) and fry as usual.
I made a batch of dry sautéed mushrooms for comparison and the results were almost identical. The mushrooms in the cast-iron skillet on the left were cooked first, while those in the stainless skillet on the right were dry-cooked; I finished with both garlic and butter:
As you can see above, both methods resulted in well browned mushrooms. They were also tender and easily absorbed just enough oil and garlic, which I added for flavor. If I had to tell the difference, I’d say the boiled batch was a little meatier and juicier than the dry stew, but not by much. Both methods also took about the same amount of time, even with the boiling stage.
You can’t go wrong with any of these techniques, but I think boiling is the way to go when you’re working with a lot of mushrooms. Because they shrink slightly in boiling water, you can put more in the pot when it’s time to brown them. This, combined with the improved texture, really makes me want to go back to my vegan bolognese with fried eggplant and mushrooms. I suspect that simmering shredded (or food processor) mushrooms before frying them in a pan will make the final texture even meatier and tastier – and in just a second it won’t be 85 degrees every day in Portland, I’m going to find out. for me.