Golden-brown are the ultimate upgrade. Whether you’re serving a or a their rich umami flavor can’t be beat. Unfortunately, many people avoid cooking mushrooms at home simply because they’re constantly disappointed by their results.
Mushrooms can be soggy and limp or, worse, full of grease. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Learn this simple trick, and you’ll be rewarded with perfectly crispy, golden-brown ‘shrooms every time.
A perfectly sautéed mushroom is crisp, golden-brown, and rich with flavor. While this doesn’t sound difficult in theory, in practice it’s actually a little tricky. That's because browning—a.
k.a. the Maillard reaction, if you want to get science-y—only happens without the presence of water.
.. and mushrooms are 90% water.
Not only that, their cell structures are very delicate, so if they’re handled too harshly it’s easy for them to break down and leach out their moisture and become a soggy mess. Here's how some people try to solve this problem: Remove as much moisture from the mushrooms as possible before cooking Avoid adding salt to the mushrooms until after cooking (since salt can cause the mushrooms to release water) Cook them in an aggressively hot pan with fat. It doesn’t matter how dry the mushrooms are on the outside; as soon as they hit that hot pan, the heat ruptures their cell walls, causing them to release all their water and absorb any oil that’s in the pan.
Once the high heat evaporates the excess moisture, you�.