The usual way of treating mushrooms—as is taught in most French culinary schools—is to not let them come in contact with a single drop of water. Each mushroom is painstakingly brushed or peeled to clean them while keeping them dry, then piled into a ripping hot pan with oil. The idea is that without added moisture, the mushrooms should caramelize and pick up color. Unfortunately, as the mushrooms cook, they begin to release moisture, which then gets in the way of browning.
This recipe takes a different approach that’s been a staple of mushroom cookery in Chinese kitchens of boiling the mushrooms, slowly reducing the liquid, and finally searing them off with added oil. The science has been outlined by Cook’s Illustrated and even made rounds on TikTok via @jimboilsmushrooms. In short, first boiling the mushrooms accelerates the expulsion of moisture from the mushroom so that browning can happen more quickly. In addition, the liquid that the mushrooms cook in quickly become a flavorful broth with proteins and sugars that caramelize at the bottom of the pan, so that towards the end of the cooking process, there’s already a flavorful sauce. —Lucas Sin
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