— Lisa Freed

You know, I love mushrooms. I attached an article I wrote for Bridge World Magazine about mushrooms because I live 20 miles from the mushroom capital of the world, Kennet Square, Pennsylvania. So two things. First of all, you wanna start out with really fresh looking mushrooms. So yesterday I went to the market and I bought some mushrooms and I put them in a brown paper bags so they could breathe inside the refrigerator. They were robust looking, they did not smell sorry for this noise. Um, I shoulda taken this off before we started, but if you, whoops, take a look at these beautiful mushrooms, you can see that they're nice and white. There's no browning on them, there isn't any kind of dirt, they look delicious, they smell really nice. So I look for those. And I like to buy mushrooms that are loose so I can pick out the sizes that I exactly need. However, on the bargain bin at the grocery store yesterday were these baby bella mushrooms. And the only reason why I bought them is so that you could see what not to buy. Looking at them, I can tell you that they are not healthy looking. And when I gave it the nose test, they had a rather rancid smell to them. So don't buy these and I won't be using these for anything. They'll probably end up in the compost. But I wanted you to have a really good visual best to buy your mushrooms loose. And usually they have baby Bellas, they have a white button and they have shiitake. So it's important to pick them out by hand, look at them, and then when you get home, do not wash them. Do not wash them at all. The best way to clean a mushroom is just with a little rag and just sort of wipe off any of the dirt, because when you wash them with water, you're introducing, um, another element for them to not stay as fresh as you want them to for as long as you wish. And, um, that's what I have to say about mushrooms. Mushrooms are delicious. I think one of my favorite all time Rouxbe recipes is the no oil saute, because I think that that is an assignment that is a cornerstone in learning how to cook without oil. And it's really funny sometimes because, uh, when I am reviewing assignments, sometimes I will sort of chortle because a, a student will say, I finally like mushrooms because I know how to cook them. So that assignment is really, really good. If you do not like mushrooms, you could do a dry oil saute with zucchini, with summer squash, with eggplant. They have similar textures, and you will see the same result in terms of doing a no oil saute. And you'll see beautifully caramelized, uh, vegetables. So that's what I have to say about mushrooms, and I hope you enjoy that article. Mushrooms are very popular right now. They are in everything.

Mushroom Info