How to wash and clean champignons for soup, stewing, frying, stuffing.
We will not argue that champignons are the most delicious mushrooms, because everyone has different taste preferences, but no one will argue that champignons are the most common mushrooms in our country. They are ideal for soup, stew, pizza, and pies. Both marinated and equally delicious cooked barbecue are delicious. The bravest gourmets even eat champignons raw!
And it’s not surprising, because this variety of mushrooms contains a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. These are group B, C, D, as well as sodium, phosphorus, potassium, amino acids, linoleic acid. In addition, champignons are an easily digestible protein, which is vital for those who decide to take the path of vegetarians.
Scientists have also proven that regular consumption of champignons is a sure way to avoid such ailments as heart attack, atherosclerosis, and also improve the functioning of the brain and nervous system.
But in food, as in medicine, the main rule is do no harm. Therefore, it is very important to clearly know where the mushrooms were grown, as well as to properly process and prepare them before serving.
Do I need to peel fresh, king, brown mushrooms before cooking?
Many even experienced housewives will tell you with confidence - why clean absolutely clean champignons? But this rule applies only to mushrooms grown under artificial conditions. If you yourself collected champignons in the forests and clearings of your native land, cleaning the stem is mandatory, and sometimes cleaning the cap.
In addition, use a washcloth to thoroughly rinse each mushroom under running water. After this, the mushrooms are ready for cooking.
Need for processing
Mushrooms are tasty, but treacherous. Their collection, processing and preparation must be treated with extreme caution. Sometimes experienced mushroom pickers are confused about the use of this or that type of forest product. After all, mushrooms are poorly digestible and difficult to digest in the body. If you get one of poor quality in a frying pan, it can cause not only digestive problems, but also serious poisoning.
For these reasons, it is customary to carefully clean, sort and process mushrooms. Many of them require special attention. Each fungus must be examined, cleaned, film and dirt removed, and boiled. We decided to talk in more detail about processing mushrooms, paying attention to the most popular ones - champignons. We have collected all the expert advice and are ready to tell you.
Do I need to clean out champignon caps if they burst?
It happens that whole caps are used for a dish, but when washed, the mushroom cracks due to lack of juiciness. If it is not possible to purchase other mushrooms, and you need to prepare the dish, do the following:
- Place the mushrooms in warm water and leave for 15-20 minutes;
- Clean dirty areas with a cloth and rinse additionally with warm water;
- If necessary, make a new cut on the stem, clean it, put it in water again and immediately remove it.
This way, even the most fragile mushrooms will remain intact.
What about washing or boiling mushrooms?
Do champignons need to be boiled? Most mushrooms cannot be washed and boiled by draining the water several times. But champignons are the opposite. Of course, you can object, because mushrooms are such an unpredictable product, how can you use it if you don’t boil it?
The fact is that champignons absorb water well, and they do it very quickly, which can negatively affect your dish. And from cooking, mushrooms can completely lose their taste, losing their qualities into the mushroom broth.
Of course, it is necessary to wash the champignons, you never know what chemicals may have settled on them, but you should not soak them and boil them.
It’s better to rinse the mushrooms and quickly place them on a dry towel, this way you won’t spoil the taste of the mushrooms and, if possible, remove any contamination.
How and for how long to cook fresh and frozen champignons until tender in soup or salad?
Depending on where you prepare the champignon soup, the cooking process increases or, on the contrary, decreases. But remember: the first time you pour the mushrooms into boiling salted water and boil for 5 minutes, drain the water and rinse the mushrooms under running water. Next, cook depending on the cooking method:
- On the stove, cook fresh champignons in the soup for 5 minutes;
- Cook fresh champignons in a double boiler for 10 minutes;
- Cook fresh champignons in a slow cooker for 20 minutes;
- In a pressure cooker, fresh champignons are cooked for 5 minutes;
- Frozen champignons in the soup are boiled for 10 minutes after the water boils.
If the mushrooms will be fried, stuffed, or stewed, pre-cooking for 5 minutes is sufficient.
Where to collect champignons?
We will definitely talk about how to process champignons before cooking, but first of all I would like to remind you about proper harvesting.
Of course, it is much easier to buy champignons in a store or market; they are there all year round and reproduce well outside of the wild, but for lovers of “silent hunting” who feel the excitement of collecting mushrooms, it would be useful to know a little about where and how to collect champignons.
First of all, champignons take root anywhere: in forest lowlands, in the mountains, and in meadows. Most often they grow on manure heaps, landfills, even household ones. They like to breed near human habitations and where livestock graze. It's all about soil well fertilized with manure. But sometimes stubborn champignons grow even from under the asphalt. Marvelous! After all, the mushrooms look so weak.
Champignons are hidden under a layer of loose fertile soil. If you see a cap or a tubercle, take the time to dig up the soil; perhaps there is a whole family of mushrooms there. If so, you should pay attention to all the bumps in this area.
In general, there are three types of champignons, they are divided according to their habitat:
- ordinary;
- meadow;
- forest.
All of them are united by the main feature - a large, thick cap, turning pink from the sun. Old mushrooms usually turn black, acquiring a dark, brown color. But the young ones are distinguished by a dense spherical cap and a pleasant color.
How to properly cut champignon mushrooms for frying?
If the champignons are going to be fried, it is very advisable to wash the mushrooms, chop them and then boil them for 5 minutes. Since it is much more problematic to cut boiled mushrooms evenly.
Depending on what dish you plan to prepare, slicing is possible:
- Cubes. To do this, separate the caps from the stems and cut into small or large cubes. Excellent for frying caviar, as well as frying with potatoes and vegetables;
- In straws. The method is exactly the same as the previous one, except for the cutting shape. Ideal for salads;
- In slices. To do this, place the mushroom with its cap down and, using a sharp knife, separate it slice by slice from top to bottom. Champignons are also excellent for cutting into slices using an egg slicer.
When to clean and process mushrooms: before cooking or in advance
Peeled mushrooms cannot be stored for a long time, so they must be processed and cut immediately before cooking. As a last resort, you can simply fry or boil them: in this form they can be stored for 7 days.
We recommend reading, a recipe for delicious mushroom soup made from frozen champignons.
The freezer will help extend the life of fresh peeled mushrooms . You need to freeze washed, dried mushrooms (in slices or whole). The main storage condition is that the mushrooms prepared for freezing are dry and the bag is sealed. They can be stored in this form for a year at a temperature of –18°C. You can also buy ready-made frozen and chopped mushrooms: their cost will not exceed the price of fresh ones.
How long does it take to fry frozen and fresh champignons in a pan?
Deliciously fried mushrooms are the key to a luxurious dish. After all, champignons seem to be unpretentious, but this is a deceptive opinion. After all, there are many secrets hidden in their preparation.
Wash fresh mushrooms, chop and boil in salted water for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and dry on a napkin. Then we put it in a frying pan in which vegetable and butter are mixed in equal quantities. Fry, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
If the mushrooms are fried in one layer or deep-fried until 2 minutes of frying is enough.
Frozen mushrooms are fried for 10 minutes after preliminary defrosting and drying on a napkin.
Canned and pickled mushrooms are washed under running water, dried on a napkin and fried over high heat for 5 minutes.
How to process for raw consumption
The French gave us not only many delicious recipes from their cuisine, but also the fashion for eating champignons raw. To do this, fresh mushrooms should be processed in a special way:
- Scrape the skin from the cap and the top layer from the stem of the mushrooms. In this case, the skirt and plates must be removed.
- Trim the stem of the mushroom 0.5 cm from the edge to remove any contamination.
- Immerse the champignons in hot water (about +60°C) for 2 minutes. This will help destroy harmful microorganisms.
- To further disinfect the product, soak the mushrooms in apple or wine vinegar.
- Adding olive oil will enhance their flavor and extend their shelf life. The champignons are ready to eat.
Shelf life of peeled champignons in the refrigerator
The refrigerator saves us from the grueling daily preparation of food; it’s even difficult to imagine how women lived who were forced to prepare new food 3-4 times a day! It also extends the life of products and reduces the frequency of visits to stores.
So, you can store peeled mushrooms in the refrigerator:
- In an open container - no more than 3 days, taking into account the fact that without preservatives they will darken;
- Covered with cling film - no more than 6 days, taking into account the fact that on the 7th and subsequent days they will be dangerous to human life.
Do you want to store mushrooms longer? Put them in the freezer!
Preparing champignons before harvesting
Mushrooms are prepared in different ways. It depends on which heat treatment method is chosen.
The following video shows how to properly clean champignons:
Frying
Do not wash the champignons before frying, otherwise they will absorb excess water. They are cleaned with a brush, wiped with a damp cloth, and damaged and darkened areas are removed. Mushrooms processed in this way are obtained with a beautiful golden crust and crispy.
Cooking
Mushrooms are washed well under running water and the stem is trimmed. Flaws are not removed because they will not be noticeable in the dish.
Baking
For baking, large caps are usually used, from which all the plates are removed. They are given short water treatments by adding 1-2 tbsp to the water. l. wheat flour. It acts as an abrasive substance that helps mechanically remove the “skin” from the caps.
Freezing
For this processing, fresh mushrooms are used; all darkened parts are cut off. Then they are washed and dried. It is better to immediately cut the mushrooms into slices, sprinkle them with lemon juice, and wrap them in cling film. In this form they are sent to the freezer. If a frozen product is used for making soup or stewing, then there is no need to defrost it. Complete defrosting negatively affects the appearance of the mushrooms. They lose their structure and darken.
Drying
Mushrooms should absolutely not be washed before drying, otherwise they will darken and the drying time will increase noticeably, which can lead to the development of various molds on the surface. Before cooking, dried mushrooms are soaked in water. This is enough to remove dust from them. Therefore, only high-quality specimens without damage are selected for drying.
Fresh mushrooms
True gourmets prefer to eat raw champignons. High-quality mushrooms are harmless to human health. Before use, they are thoroughly washed, dried well and all damaged and darkened areas are cut off. To destroy all pathogenic microorganisms on the product, it is sent to a preheated oven or oven for a few seconds.
In addition to washing, some champignons require cleaning. The most convenient way to do this is to take a knife with a sharp, thin blade, which is convenient for cleaning the caps from the inside. You will also need a brush and wet wipes.
Champignons from the store
Mushrooms found on store shelves are usually grown on industrial plantations under special conditions that minimize the negative impact of the environment. Thanks to this, such champignons can be eaten raw, but you should make sure that the product is actually fresh. Is it necessary to clean store-bought mushrooms and how to clean them correctly is a pressing question for many. It is worth noting that it is necessary to peel mushrooms, regardless of whether they are store-bought or not. The main thing is to remember that the champignons are not cleaned in advance, otherwise they will quickly lose all their properties.
Advice! Mushrooms are cut into pieces not only for convenience, but also to enhance the flavor and aroma.
All the necessary manipulations aimed at cleaning the champignons boil down to the fact that they should simply be carefully cleaned with a brush. This will remove debris and dirt from the surface. Fresh champignons are very fragile, so this must be done carefully; alternatively, you can wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth. For small mushrooms, there is no need to peel the skin from the cap. Professionals advise doing this only with specimens whose cap diameter exceeds four centimeters.
You also need to inspect the surface of the mushrooms and cut off the dark places. Trim the withered and darkened stem. After all the fresh mushrooms have been cleaned, they need to be washed and laid out to dry, so that the product does not have time to absorb excess moisture during the washing process. If mushrooms are used fresh, then after they have dried, you can cut them and add them to a dish, most often salads. In this case, it is recommended to cut off the leg completely.
Quick cleaning method
Despite its apparent simplicity, preparing and cleaning champignons is a rather labor-intensive process. But experienced mushroom pickers have come up with enough ways to speed up and simplify their work.
On large caps, you need to pry the skin from the edge with a knife (or other sharp object suitable for these purposes) and, moving towards the center, moving in a circle, remove all the peel in strips. When pulling off the skin, you need to be careful not to cut off too much of the fruiting body.
You can also quickly clean up using a 10 cm square piece of coarse sandpaper. It will easily remove the skin, practically without touching the cap itself. But this method has a slight drawback - the paper will have to be washed frequently in water so that it does not clog.
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