[0 - 1] - Hello, my name is Andrew.
[1 - 3] In this video, you're going to see me cook through
[3 - 5] a bunch of mushrooms.
[5 - 7] This is part of an ongoing series where I make
[7 - 10] a lot of recipes featuring one ingredient
[10 - 12] in an effort to better understand how that ingredient works.
[12 - 15] I'm usually making things I've never made before,
[15 - 16] often not getting it exactly right,
[16 - 19] but there's something about the repetition that is very fun
[19 - 22] playing with the same ingredient over and over again
[22 - 24] that can show you a lot about what makes it great.
[24 - 26] Mushrooms are very cool.
[26 - 28] First of all, they look awesome.
[28 - 30] They often grow in mysterious circumstances
[30 - 32] and they often possess flavors that you really
[32 - 34] can't get from anything else.
[34 - 37] So I've already cooked through all of these recipes
[37 - 38] and now I'm gonna take you through
[38 - 39] how those experiences went.
[39 - 41] The first thing I made was duxelles,
[41 - 44] which is sort of a mushroom spread that can be
[44 - 46] used as an ingredient in itself.
[47 - 49] I began by cleaning my mushrooms and I wanted to use
[49 - 52] button mushrooms or these baby bella mushrooms
[52 - 54] and I thought that this technique would be a great way
[54 - 56] of maximizing the flavor
[56 - 59] and extending the life of this simplest mushroom.
[59 - 62] I ended up using about three pounds of them
[62 - 64] because making any amount of duxelle, I think,
[64 - 68] is gonna be fairly time consuming and increasing the scale
[68 - 70] doesn't change that overall time too much.
[71 - 71] So I chopped them down
[71 - 74] to sort of the finest mince that I could.
[74 - 77] So I began by sweating some minced shallot,
[77 - 80] adding some garlic and then all of my mushrooms.
[80 - 81] I actually had so much mushroom
[81 - 84] that I began cooking a portion of it
[84 - 86] and then went back to chopping more
[86 - 89] and then as the moisture reduced out of those mushrooms,
[89 - 91] I would just add more to the pan
[91 - 95] and continuously stir it and wilt it down further.
[95 - 98] Once it dries out, it begins to sort of toast
[98 - 101] and almost caramelize a little bit, which is going to
[101 - 103] increase the flavor of those mushrooms a lot
[103 - 105] and then I just checked it for seasoning,
[105 - 107] added a little bit of thyme, wine
[107 - 108] and that was essentially done.
[108 - 111] The first thing I made though, is a little canape,
[111 - 115] like a little snack with some of the fresh duxelle
[115 - 117] that was simply a thin piece of bread,
[117 - 119] a little bit of goat cheese on top,
[119 - 122] a mound of that duxelle and a little bit of chives on that
[122 - 124] and this was really good.
[124 - 128] For me, I associate this taste with like, Thanksgiving stuffing,
[128 - 130] which in mine, I add a lot of mushroom
[130 - 133] and so it's like that flavor as a little treat.
[133 - 135] Most of the duxelle, I ended up putting
[135 - 139] into an ice cube tray so that it could be portioned
[139 - 143] and kept long term to then be added to dishes later on.
[143 - 146] So for example, I made a very simple pasta.
[146 - 149] I began by cutting up a small amount of fresh
[149 - 151] shitake mushroom, although I think you could use
[151 - 154] any or none in this application.
[154 - 156] I cooked that mushroom in a little bit of olive oil,
[156 - 159] and then I took a cube of that frozen duxelle
[159 - 163] and melted it with some of my pasta cooking liquid
[163 - 167] to create the base of this very quick sauce.
[167 - 170] This is sort of based on real dishes I've seen
[170 - 172] but ultimately really just made up by me,
[172 - 176] utilizing the basic technique of creating a sauce
[176 - 178] out of the starchy cooking liquid
[178 - 181] and agitating that with cheese and the mushrooms
[181 - 186] to create a creamy sauce for the noodle
[186 - 188] and the taste is incredible.
[188 - 193] It's just multiplying that mushroom umami flavor.
[193 - 194] It's so good.
[194 - 197] The next thing I made was jamur goreng,
[197 - 199] Indonesian fried oyster mushroom
[199 - 201] and this is actually a dish that was recommended to me
[201 - 203] on Instagram by a number of people.
[203 - 205] So if you're one of those people, thank you very much.
[205 - 207] I referenced a recipe from the chef
[207 - 209] Devina Hermawan on YouTube.
[209 - 211] So I started by separating my oyster mushroom.
[211 - 214] I had this sort of large stock of mushrooms
[214 - 218] that I separated by hand into their individual petals,
[218 - 221] I guess you would say, they're petal shaped.
[221 - 222] I don't know what else to call it,
[222 - 224] and then I took these and salted them to extract
[224 - 226] some of their moisture and get some of
[226 - 228] that seasoning inside and then I rinsed them
[228 - 231] and squeezed out as much moisture as possible.
[231 - 233] In the recipe, I was surprised by this step
[233 - 236] because I assumed that if I applied this much force
[236 - 238] to a mushroom, I would just crush it
[238 - 239] and disintegrate it into nothing.
[240 - 243] But this really exposed just how much structural integrity
[243 - 246] an oyster mushroom has and they held up very well.
[246 - 248] I then assembled my dry and wet batters.
[248 - 251] The wet had some minced garlic and shallot.
[251 - 255] It was then simply a matter of battering wet into dry
[255 - 258] and then frying in a shallow pot of hot oil
[258 - 261] and all the normal deep frying rules apply here.
[261 - 263] You could double fry them to make them extra crispy.
[263 - 265] Mine took about one flip to come out
[265 - 267] very golden and delicious looking.
[267 - 271] The oyster mushroom shape is just perfectly conducive
[271 - 274] to getting a great fried thing out of it.
[274 - 277] It has that aspect ratio of being
[277 - 279] kind of wide but flat
[279 - 280] and all of the pieces of mushroom
[280 - 282] have that same basic shape
[282 - 285] so they all fry in the same way.
[285 - 286] It can get so crispy
[286 - 289] but the inside can basically never overcook,
[289 - 294] and you end up with this perfect, tender filet of mushroom,
[294 - 296] I ate them with the recommended chili sauce
[296 - 299] and they were pretty awesome.
[299 - 301] Like, very delicious.
[301 - 303] I honestly think that this is the best thing
[303 - 306] to be fried that I've ever fried.
[306 - 309] The next thing I made was porcini risotto
[309 - 311] and I referenced a recipe from Massimo Bottura,
[311 - 313] published by Masterclass.
[313 - 315] So this preparation of risotto intrigued me
[315 - 318] because it utilized exclusively dried porcini mushrooms
[318 - 321] and the recipe specifies that you could add
[321 - 324] fresh mushrooms if you wish, but that ultimately,
[324 - 328] they were not a substitute or a replacement for dried ones
[328 - 330] because there's so much more flavor that can be extracted
[330 - 334] from a dried mushroom when it's rehydrated.
[334 - 336] So my porchini were pretty clean
[336 - 338] so I rehydrated them directly in the stock
[338 - 340] that I was going to use to make the risotto.
[340 - 344] I then prepared my other ingredients, minced some shallot.
[344 - 345] In a pan with some melted butter,
[345 - 349] I began sweating that shallot, then added some minced garlic
[349 - 351] and then I added the rice.
[351 - 353] I'm using Carnaroli rice,
[353 - 355] which is one of the recommended rices for risotto
[355 - 357] because of its starch content and the way
[357 - 359] it releases that starch can make
[359 - 361] for a very creamy final risotto.
[361 - 363] So that rice gets toasted in the pan
[363 - 366] for a number of minutes, which is also going to
[366 - 369] reveal some natural nutty flavors of the rice
[369 - 371] and then when the outside of each grain
[371 - 374] is becoming translucent, I splash in some white wine
[374 - 376] and some of the broth
[376 - 379] and you can see now how much darker that stock became
[379 - 382] once it was fortified with those porcini mushrooms
[382 - 384] and at this point, it really just tasted
[384 - 386] like a mushroom stock.
[386 - 390] In one-ladle increments, I'm adding broth to the rice,
[390 - 392] allowing it to cook and soak into the grains
[392 - 396] and then adding more broth step by step
[396 - 398] and I think this done so that it can
[398 - 400] release its starch in a particular way.
[400 - 402] At the point that it becomes al dente,
[402 - 406] it also has the final creamy mushroom sauce
[406 - 407] in with everything.
[407 - 408] When it was close to being finished,
[408 - 411] I took my dried porcini, gave them a rough chop,
[411 - 413] added them to the risotto and with the heat off,
[413 - 417] I added butter, cheese, tasted for salt
[417 - 419] and then allowed the risotto to sit with the lid on
[419 - 422] for five minutes for the final amount of cooking
[422 - 424] to be done with the carryover heat.
[424 - 427] I'm sure there are many, many ways to make
[427 - 429] a mushroom risotto but this one really intrigued me
[429 - 431] because it was so singularly a stock
[431 - 434] with dried mushrooms and rice
[434 - 436] and it was so good.
[436 - 440] I'm not sure my final consistency was textbook perfect
[440 - 442] but the flavor was incredible.
[442 - 444] Porcinis naturally have a little bit
[444 - 446] of nuttiness themselves, and with the nuttiness
[446 - 448] of that toasted rice, I thought it created
[448 - 450] this beautiful symmetry.
[450 - 451] Cheese is always good on everything,
[451 - 454] but this is one of those dishes where the Parmesan
[454 - 457] really just completes this triangle of flavor
[457 - 461] where suddenly it's like, oh my God, this is risotto.
[461 - 465] The next thing I made was a morel cream sauce
[465 - 467] and I referenced a recipe Alan Bergo
[467 - 469] and his website foragerchef.
[469 - 472] To start, I took some butter in my heavy Dutch oven
[472 - 475] and slowly browned the skin of my chicken
[475 - 477] doing it at a relatively low temperature
[477 - 478] so it was not to burn the butter
[478 - 481] as this would be the basis for the sauce to come next.
[481 - 483] In the meantime, I cleaned my morels.
[483 - 486] The morel mushroom is this unique and highly coveted
[486 - 489] mushroom that tends to come up around springtime,
[489 - 492] which is why I'm doing this video at this time of year
[492 - 495] and I got my morels from a local farmer's market
[495 - 498] at this vendor called LA fungi.
[498 - 501] Some of mine are larger, some are smaller and I tried to
[501 - 504] cut them into approximately the same size pieces
[504 - 505] and you end up with what looked to me
[505 - 508] like little Lego tires of mushroom.
[508 - 511] When my chicken was adequately browned on either side,
[511 - 514] I removed it and then took some sliced shallot
[514 - 517] and began melting that in my pot with more butter.
[517 - 519] When the shallot had softened I added in my morels
[519 - 523] and then eventually de-glazed with wine and Sherry.
[523 - 526] When all the wine had reduced, I added some demi-glace,
[526 - 528] which thankfully I had some in my freezer
[528 - 531] from a previous video and then also some cream.
[531 - 534] I allowed that to reduce until it was nice and thick
[534 - 537] and then I opted to return the chicken to the pot
[537 - 539] so that it could finish together with the sauce.
[539 - 542] Foraged morels are so prized
[542 - 544] because like any wild mushroom,
[544 - 546] they're going to take on the flavor
[546 - 548] of the environment that they grow in.
[548 - 551] So the flavor is described as very woodsy and earthy.
[551 - 554] They're mushroomy but it's a bit more specific.
[555 - 556] It's like trying to describe how
[556 - 558] different parts of a single forest smell
[558 - 560] and while the sauce ended up being
[560 - 564] a pretty standard pan sauce type of formulation,
[564 - 565] I think this is good with morels
[565 - 569] because it sticks with that recommendation of less is more.
[569 - 572] It's super tasty, a creamy, delicious sauce.
[572 - 574] The wine adds some sweetness and acidity
[574 - 577] and yeah, this is a sauce that'll have you
[577 - 579] licking the plate when the cameras are off.
[579 - 582] The last thing I made was a mushroom toast.
[582 - 584] When I started thinking about it, the thing I really
[584 - 589] wanted to do was attempt recreating the toast that I had
[589 - 592] while filming Worth It at Petit Crenn in San Francisco.
[592 - 594] It was an unforgettable experience speaking
[594 - 597] with Dominique Crenn about how she makes this toast
[597 - 599] and I basically followed the steps that I learned
[600 - 602] in that video in making this toast.
[602 - 604] So I began with my mushrooms.
[604 - 606] I had a few other varieties that I got
[606 - 609] from the same place that I got the morels
[609 - 611] and these were a golden oyster,
[611 - 613] something called a cauliflower mushroom
[613 - 615] and a little bit of porcini
[615 - 617] and I started by breaking these apart
[617 - 621] into roughly equal sizes that would cook well together
[621 - 623] and in a pan with plenty of butter,
[623 - 625] I began frying those mushrooms.
[625 - 629] So at Petit Crenn, the toast had an espelette mayonnaise.
[629 - 631] So I decided to also make my own mayo.
[631 - 634] In a blender with eggs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
[634 - 637] I whizzed that together and then I added some chili pepper
[637 - 638] along with a couple of other things
[638 - 640] until I thought it tasted nice.
[640 - 642] When I saw my mushrooms were getting nice and golden
[642 - 647] I began seasoning them and I also had some wild green onion.
[647 - 648] This is just one of the cool things
[648 - 650] that happens at a farmer's market.
[650 - 651] I was picking out all these wild mushrooms
[651 - 654] and they said, "Hey, we also have this green onion,
[654 - 655] seems like something that would go
[655 - 657] with what you're cooking, here you go."
[657 - 659] So then it was time to assemble the toast
[659 - 662] and I was trying to replicate as close as possible
[662 - 664] what I had at Petit Crenn.
[664 - 667] So first there was the mayonnaise, then some minced chives,
[667 - 669] then a base layer of my mushrooms.
[669 - 672] Then I had some thin slices of pickle that I
[672 - 675] arranged over that, more mushrooms on top of that.
[675 - 679] At Petit Crenn they had some elephant garlic chips.
[679 - 681] I couldn't find elephant garlic
[681 - 684] but I decided to make some garlic chips anyway.
[684 - 685] With a little creative liberty,
[685 - 688] I took the flowers that were on that wild green onion,
[688 - 690] which I had previously plucked off
[690 - 693] and arranged those along the top of the toast as well.
[693 - 694] Finally, some flaky sea salt.
[694 - 698] I mean, the whole thing with a toast is that
[698 - 699] when you have something delicious, like these
[699 - 703] wild foraged mushrooms that don't need much done to them,
[703 - 704] just eat them on toast
[704 - 706] and I think this is really the lesson
[706 - 707] from mushrooms in general, which is that
[707 - 709] they are this miracle of nature.
[709 - 713] They spring up in the dark, damp crevices of the forest.
[713 - 714] They're super delicious
[714 - 717] because they're the product of their environments
[717 - 719] and really you shouldn't have to do much for them
[719 - 722] when they are properly sourced and really delicious.
[722 - 725] Well, that's how I cooked through five pounds of mushrooms.
[725 - 727] For everyone who gave me a mushroom recommendation,
[727 - 729] thank you so much, but if you have another recommendation
[729 - 732] for what I should cook next or in the future,
[732 - 733] please, I'd love to hear it in the comments.
[733 - 736] But otherwise, thank you so much for watching.
[736 - 740] (gentle background music continues)