I’ve been getting dried wood ear mushrooms at an Asian grocery to add to ramen for a while, and it’s a game changer. I just put it in a mug of boiling water for a few minutes and then add it into the soup.
I recently got some dried shiitake, and that’s an ingredient that I wish I’d known about before. You rehydrate them in boiling water and leave them for a few hours. After that, squeeze them out and prepare them like fresh mushrooms. Retain the water that you soaked them in and you can use it to infuse that mushroom flavor into whatever you’re cooking. I made a mushroom gravy over rice yesterday, and it was great.
I think even people who don’t normally like the texture of mushrooms might enjoy them; they’ve got a bit more of a “meaty” texture than fresh ones, not quite so spongy. You can also grind them up while they’re dry and add savory mushroom flavor to anything.
It’s a great way to always have mushrooms on hand. Do you have a way that you like to prepare them?
I’ve never used MSG, do you just add it during cooking, or do you have to do anything special to it? I’ve seen it compared to salt, but that’s about it.
Yeah, that’s about it. Obviously what it brings is different but yeah I’d say the amounts you use are comparable.
Uncle Roger perhaps overdoes it a bit. I used to use some sort of dries mushroom umami mix that’s found in all the shops here, but it wasn’t as good and even a little moisture near the spices in the kitchen and it would clump up. So I got a bag of msg from an asian store.
5/5 got to say.
MSG was considered like a synthetic additive for ages, but it’s completely natural. It’s a sodium salt of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid. Not that something being “natural” makes it healthy (god I hate the naturalistic fallacy), but still, just wanted to point that out.
That’s cool, I’ll give it a try, thanks :)