A question about dried mushrooms.

Whenever I use dried mushrooms, I reconstitute them in boiling water or broth. I then strain the the liquid and the mushrooms, and use both in the dish I am making. I love the ingredients in this recipe, but was surprised that you don't soak the dried mushrooms. I know that there is a lot of liquid in the recipe, but there is that grittiness that can come with dried mushrooms. Have any of you ever seen recipes, or cooked with dried mushrooms without soaking them first? Here is the recipe that I am talking about.

http://www.saveur.com/article...

Thanks so much!

Jackie

bella s.f.
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5 Comments

boulangere
boulangere August 13, 2011
I love to grind dried mushrooms to a very, very fine powder and use as a finish for risottos especially and some pastas, meats, ramen. But it looks as though this recipe is hoping that there will be sufficient liquid from the carrots and returning chicken to hydrate the dried porcini. You'd be wise to follow your hunch and hydrate them first and also, as you commonly do, use the drained soaking liquid in the recipe.
 
ButterYum
ButterYum August 12, 2011
I always soak my dried mushrooms first.
 
bella S.
bella S. August 8, 2011
Thanks Merrill and ChefJune. I posted a question about this after the recipe on the Saveur site. We'll see what they say.
 
ChefJune
ChefJune August 8, 2011
I think there's a step missing from that recipe. Can't imagine that you're not supposed to rehydrate those dried mushrooms before chopping.
 
Merrill S.
Merrill S. August 8, 2011
I've never made a recipe that called for dried mushrooms without soaking first -- like you, can't really think of a reason for why you wouldn't!
 
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