1) Put the desired amount of dried mushrooms in a non-reactive bowl.

2) Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms to cover.

3) Let sit for at least 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender.

4) Strain the mushrooms and use in recipes that call for fresh mushrooms. Reserve the water as it serves as a flavorful base for making stock.

Note: Dried Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms reconstitute woody and tough. Accordingly, we only recommend dried chanterelles to be used in dishes that are to be pureed.

Related: How to Freeze, Can & Dehydrate Fresh Mushrooms

Pasta with Sauteed Fresh Mushrooms, Sausage, and Truffle Butter
Serves 4-6

This recipe uses fresh fettuccini pasta as a bed for fresh porcini mushrooms (you could use any fresh  mushrooms) sautéed with game sausage and garlic, then topped with seasoned bread crumbs and black truffle butter at the last second for a truly decadent result.  If you don’t eat meat, you can simply cut the sausage from the recipe for a vegetarian version.

Ingredients:
3-4oz per person whatever fresh noodles or filled pasta you like (fresh fettuccini depicted)
3 links of Wild Boar Italian Sausage or Venison Sausage with Merlot & Blueberries
¼ lb Fresh Porcini Mushrooms (any fresh wild mushrooms or fresh organic mushrooms can be used)
1 large garlic clove
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano to top
Bread crumbs to top.
2-3 sprigs of parsley
2 tbsp Black Truffle Butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Start a pot of salted water boiling for the pasta.

2.  Cut the porcinis into thin sticks.  As we did in the photo, you can also reserve some whole porcinis, slice them thinly and gently sauté them in a separate pan for use in the final presentation on top.

3.  Finely dice the parsley and toss it with the bread crumbs, salt & pepper.

4.  Finely dice the garlic clove. Remove the sausage from its casing, crumble the meat, and sauté it with the garlic in an oiled frying pan.

4.  When the sausage has cooked, remove it from the pan and sauté the porcinis in the remaining fat.  Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

6.  Toss the hot pasta with the sausage, garlic, and porcini mushrooms.  Plate and top  with a dollop of truffle butter, the seasoned bread crumbs and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano.

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How to Dehydrate Fresh Mushrooms
If you dry them, they will last for years and retain an intensified form of their intrinsic flavor and vital properties. The best way for most home chefs to dry fresh mushrooms is using an actual dehydrator machine, which dehydrates at a low temperature, better preserving mushrooms’ flavor.

In a pinch you can spread mushrooms on a sheet tray covered with parchment paper in your oven, and bake them at 140 degrees (as low as many ovens will go) until they’ve dried out.  However, this isn’t a perfect method because you’re likely to partially-bake your mushrooms while drying them. 

How to Prepare Fresh Mushrooms For Drying:
For thinner, smaller varieties like chanterelles, black trumpet mushrooms, and hedgehog mushrooms, you can simply lightly rinse , pat dry, and dehydrate them whole. If you find any particularly large or thick examples you may want to halve them first so they’re similar in size to the others.

Thicker, meatier mushrooms like lobster mushrooms, portabellos, porcinis, and shitakes should be sliced before drying. We recommend slices that are about 1/4″ thick.

How to Dry Mushrooms in a Dehydrator:
Start your mushrooms out in a dehydrator set very low (80-90 degrees) for the first few hours, then turn the heat up to 120-125 degrees. You shouldn’t need to use any special tray liners, the basic plastic grates work just fine. It could take anywhere from four to eleven hours to dehydrate your mushrooms. We can’t really give you a better estimate than that, because it can vary quite a bit depending on their moisture content, how much you’re drying, and your ambient humidity. A good rule of thumb is to check them every hour or so until they’re starting to dry out, then switch to checking every half hour. They’re done when they’re completely dried out and hard.

Once you’ve established a baseline for your dehydrator, mushroom type & area, you likely won’t need to check as often in the future. If during your checks you notice some of the smaller mushrooms have finished drying ahead of the larger ones, go ahead and remove the dried mushrooms from the trays early, leaving them in can damage their quality.

Store your dried mushrooms in an air-tight container in a cool, dry cupboard.  Read How to Rehydrate Dried Mushrooms for tips on making them soft again.  

Note: Chanterelles often reconstitute woody, so we prefer to puree them for delicious soups and sauces rather than serving them as whole mushrooms.

How to Freeze Fresh Mushrooms

1. Most varieties you can simply brush off the clinging dirt, but for mushrooms with a lot of nooks and crannies, you might want to give them a gentle rinse, and then carefully dry them as thoroughly as possible.

2. Whether to cut your mushrooms into smaller pieces depends on the size of the mushrooms and your future plans for them. In general, when freezing something the smaller the pieces the better…but if you need them whole or in larger pieces you can freeze them that way.

3. Put a sheet pan in your freezer until it’s good and cold.

4. Place the mushrooms/pieces on the sheet pan in a single layer so they don’t touch each other. Freeze them solid, uncovered.

5. For storage, move the frozen mushrooms to a freezer bag or (even better) a vacuum pack bag. Get as much air out as possible, seal, and keep them frozen until you’re ready to use them.

6. Only thaw mushrooms when you’re ready to use them, as refreezing can damage their flavor/texture.

Note: You can also partially cook (sauté) fresh mushrooms in oil and then freeze them, which will save cooking time later on.

For more info, read How to Freeze Better at Home.

How to Can Fresh Mushrooms
Lastly there is canning mushrooms in oil. Cook down mushrooms in oil and place inside a mason jar, the heat should seal the jar. Keep refrigerated for up to two months!

If anyone has other techniques, please add them in a comment below, or link to your content.

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This soup is rich, earthy, and creamy.  The paprika isn’t enough to make the soup spicy, but just to add a pleasant warmth which, coupled with acidity of the lemon juice & sherry vinegar, helps keep the soup balanced

Ingredients: (Makes 10 servings)
1 oz. Dried Wild Mushrooms Mix, reconstituted with soaking water reserved (you could substitute any dried wild mushrooms except chanterelles)
4 Tbs. Butter  
4 Tbs. Flour
2 ½ cups Water or Stock
4 cups Milk
2 cups Chopped Onion
1 Tbs. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 cup Sour Cream
4 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Dill Weed
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sherry Vinegar

Instructions: 
1.  In a medium saucepan, lightly sauté the onions in butter until translucent, add the flour and cook, while stirring, for 2-3 minutes.

2.  Slowly whisk in mushrooms and their soaking water and cook over medium heat until thickened.

3.  Add milk and paprika and simmer another 2 or 3 minutes.

4.  Whisk in 1/2 cup of the sour cream, then add the remaining ingredients.

5.  Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream.

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Here’s a very brief summary of his findings, with a link to each blog post for the details and delicious recipe ideas.

Porcini mushrooms add incredible richness and body to chicken gravy.

Ingredients:
½ oz Dried Porcini Mushrooms
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp chopped Onion
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Flour
½ cup White Wine
1 skin-on Chicken Breast per person
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed with the skin on
4 sprigs of fresh Thyme

Directions: 
1.  Simmer the dried porcinis in 2 cups of water with the sugar, salt, and soy sauce for 20 minutes.  

2.  Pan roast the chicken with the garlic, thyme, and butter.  Remove the cooked breasts and let them rest, covered, while you make the gravy.

3.  Sauté the onions in the chicken pan.  Once they have browned, add the flour.

4.  Cook the flour, stirring frequently, for two minutes.

5.  Add the white wine, and simmer the mixture until you can just barely smell the alcohol (about 2 minutes).

6.  Add the mushroom liquid & mushrooms.  Simmer until thickened.

7.  Taste the gravy & season with salt & pepper as desired.  Serve with the chicken and mashed potatoes.

We’re demonstrating below with dried porcini mushrooms, which are an excellent choice for powder because they’re intensely flavorful and one of the few wild varieties safe to eat raw.  However, you can use any dried mushroom to make powder, just keep in mind that you’ll want to cook most of them before consuming.

Directions:

1. Add dried mushrooms to a coffee grinder or spice grinder.

2. Grind or pulse to your desired consistency.

3. Use immediately or store in an air-tight container.

4. Clean your grinder by grinding plain white rice to a powder, dumping out the powder, and wiping the grinder clean with a dry cloth.

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Creamy, earthy, with a hint of game flavor, this is a very elegant dish that’s really easy if you use partially deboned quail.  We’ve paired the quail with a nutty, sweet, and sour walnut sauce.

Drink Pairings: Pinot Noir from Burgundy or Poulsard/Ploussard from Jura

Ingredients: (Makes 2-4 appetizer or 1-2 light entree servings)
4 Semi-Boneless Quail
1 Shallot, thinly sliced
¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 cup Walnuts
¼ cup Chicken Stock
¼ cup Olive Oil
Aged Balsamic Vinegar to finish
Wooden Skewers

Plus: 4 tbsp Mushroom Duxelles, chilled (we recommend using porcini mushrooms)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

2. Toast the walnuts on a baking sheet in the oven until slightly darker, crispy, and aromatic.

3. Remove the walnuts, let them cool and turn your oven temperature up to 350 degrees.

4. Sweat the shallot in a pan with a little oil until translucent, deglaze with the balsamic and briefly simmer to reduce to a syrup consistency. Then, blend the balsamic/shallot mixture, walnuts, chicken stock, and olive oil together until smooth.

5. Fill the central cavity of each quail with 1 tbsp of the duxelles and stitch closed with a wooden skewer.

6. Get a thin layer of oil hot in a cast iron skillet on medium and lay the quail in on their backs, until they develop a well seared crust.  Then turn them and continue to sear as much of their surface as you can.

7. When the quail have been completely seared, move them (in the skillet) to the oven to roast for about 20 minutes.

8. Once the quail has finished cooking, spread a smear of the walnut sauce on a plate, and put the quail down on top of it.  Finish the plate with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar. Serve.

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Dried wild porcini mushrooms take this potatoes au gratin recipe to new heights!

Ingredients:  (Makes 10-12 Servings)
1 oz Dried Porcini Mushrooms, reconstituted
Reserved Porcini Soaking Liquid, strained
5 large Russet Potatoes
2 large Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Salted Butter
2 cups Milk
1 cups Heavy Cream
2 tbsp Fresh Chives, minced
1 tsp Salt

Directions: 
1.  Boil porcini soaking liquid on the stove until it has reduced to about 1/2 cup.  Add the cream, minced garlic and milk.

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter an 8 by 12 baking dish.

3.  Peel potatoes and slice 1/8 inch thick.

4.  Shingle the potato and porcini slices in the buttered dish in alternating layers.  Season every few layers with salt & pepper.  When the pan is half full, pour the cream mixture over the top.  Continue stacking the rest.   Once the pan has been filled, press down on the stacked potatoes and porcinis to compress them.  You may be able to fit in a few more layers.

5. Cover the top of the dish with foil and bake for 1 hour.

6. Remove the tin foil and broil the gratin for 5 minutes.  Top with the chives & serve.

It’s true that Fresh Porcini mushrooms are one of the few (maybe the only) wild mushroom varieties that are safe and delicious raw, making them a great choice for salads.  But, porcinis (aka boletes, cepes, cep) are also exceptional grilled whole.

They are tender and juicy, but meaty. Porcinis are some of the larger wild mushrooms available, so they won’t fall between the gaps in your grill.  And, the grill’s dry heat produces a toothsome bite and rich, earthy flavor.  

How to Grill Porcinis:
Rinse the wild porcinis off immediately before cooking, cut them into halves (or keep them whole) and rub liberally with good olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Move them to a hot, well-oiled grill flat side down and cook until they have nice grill marks, usually about 3 minutes.  Flip and grill the rounded side  for a minute or two.  Done!

And, once they are grilled…

Either serve them in large pieces for an impressive side dish, or cut them into smaller pieces for salads (they add meatiness to both grain salads or tossed greens). 

You can slice them thin and toss them with fresh pasta, parmigiano reggiano and extra virgin olive oil or truffle butter.

Or, you can mix with grilled or sauteed onions and smother Kobe beef burgers with them.   

Don’t forget to set some aside and incorporate into an omelette tomorrow morning.

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