It is not for nothing that the porcini mushroom is considered the “king of mushrooms”. It has earned this title due to its impressive size, delicious aroma and taste. In a number of characteristics, boletus is not inferior to meat and many vegetables. It has a composition rich in vitamins, macro- and microelements.
The complex of beneficial substances is so great that in some cases even doctors recommend including porcini mushrooms in the menu of sick and convalescent patients. To get the most out of this forest delicacy, let’s figure out when it needs to be collected and how to cook it correctly.
Meet: White mushroom
The porcini mushroom has always been considered the most delicious of mushrooms.
The white mushroom received its name many centuries ago. Even in pagan times, the Slavs supplemented their diet with mushrooms collected in the forests. They noticed that during heat treatment, the stem and cap of the boletus practically do not change color. Remains as light as immediately after cutting.
This makes porcini mushrooms significantly different from champignons, boletuses and other equally tasty forest products. There is nothing wrong with blackening the cut. This is how minerals react to contact with oxygen. Nevertheless, our ancestors regarded the ability of boletus to maintain whiteness as an undoubted advantage.
The boletus has a thick, pot-bellied leg and a spreading, fleshy cap with a diameter of up to 30 cm or more. The older the mushroom, the more massive and darker it is. The leg always remains white, but the color of the cap varies from light beige to black-brown.
Features of forest mushrooms
Wild mushrooms differ from store-bought mushrooms, perhaps in about the same way as wild quail meat differs from a fast-food cutlet. They have a richer taste and amazing aroma, but they take a lot longer to tinker with. Any mushroom picker knows that before preparing wild mushrooms, they need to be additionally thermally treated. How long to cook mushrooms before frying is a controversial issue. Let's try to figure it all out.
Varieties
Spruce mushroom is the most basic subspecies of porcini mushrooms
Few people know that porcini mushrooms are divided into several subspecies. Here are just a few of them:
Spruce - with an elongated stem and a dry reddish-brown cap. Loves coniferous forests. Oak is a massive mushroom with loose flesh. Grows in oak trees. It is distinguished by a grayish-brown cap, on which lighter-colored spots can often be seen. Birch is a common inhabitant of deciduous forests with a very light cap. Usually hides under birch trees. Hornbeam is a lover of oak and beech thickets. It is distinguished by a dark brown cap.
The boletus also has an inedible relative - the gall mushroom. It has a bitter taste. During cooking, the bitterness does not disappear, but only intensifies. It is impossible to eat such a dish. The gall mushroom is slightly pinkish when cut. The leg is covered with a dark mesh.
Collection time
Boletus mushrooms grow on all continents except Australia. They love dense forests with old oaks, birches and spruces. Often found near moss-covered stumps, in grass in clearings. Boletus mushrooms do not tolerate high humidity, so it is useless to look for them in wetlands.
The harvest season begins in mid-June. In July-August the mushroom actively bears fruit. The last month of summer is the period of mass collection of porcini mushrooms. They are prepared in different ways: fried, boiled, pickled, dried and frozen for the winter.
Is it possible to cook porcini mushrooms in a slow cooker?
To preserve all the beneficial properties of the product, it can be cooked in such a modern kitchen device as a multicooker. The cooking process consists of the following steps:
- Wash and chop the mushrooms;
- Place on the bottom of the multicooker bowl;
- Fill with cold water 1 cm above;
- Select the “Bake” mode and time – 40 minutes.
The multicooker will do everything itself. If there is too much of an ingredient (it takes up more than 1/2 the volume of the bowl), it is better to cook them gradually, in portions. Such porcini mushrooms can be eaten by both adults and children. And nutritionists have long proven their value for the health of the body and maintaining the figure.
Interesting Facts
Boletus is not only tasty and aromatic, but also practically the largest mushroom in the forest. It can reach colossal sizes. A specimen weighing more than 9 kg and a cap diameter of 57 cm was discovered by a Russian mushroom picker in 1961.
After collection, begin cleaning immediately
Porcini mushrooms should be cooked immediately after picking. If you leave them for a long time without processing, not only will worms begin to actively reproduce in the juicy pulp, but the lion’s share of the nutrients will gradually disappear. 10 hours after cutting, there are 50% fewer of them than initially.
Porcini mushrooms contain substances with antitumor properties. Our ancestors knew about this, so they treated frostbite and some diseases with mushroom decoctions.
Boletus is rich in protein, which, however, is rather poorly absorbed. Drying helps solve the problem. In the dried product, the protein becomes more easily accessible to enzymes in the human digestive system. After drying, up to 80% of the white mushroom protein is absorbed.
In Russian forests you can find boletus, the cap of which is painted in a rather unusual orange or lemon color. This usually scares off novice mushroom pickers. And completely in vain. Mushrooms with such strange caps are quite edible.
How to boil boletus mushrooms until tender?
Strong and beautiful mushrooms, if desired, can be boiled either in a saucepan or in a slow cooker. But it’s better not to steam them. Therefore, even when using a convenient modern device, it should be used almost like a saucepan.
- We sort out the boletus mushrooms, wash them thoroughly, remove all traces of dirt and leaves, cut off the remaining rhizomes, dark and dubious places. Soak the product for 20 minutes in cold water, drain the liquid and proceed directly to cooking.
- Pour fresh clean water into the container, add some salt and place it on the stove. Immediately after the liquid boils, add mushrooms cut into small pieces into it. If the components are very young and small, they can be boiled whole.
- Cook the product for 10 minutes without a lid, regularly removing foam from the surface. After the specified time, drain the liquid and place the mushrooms in a colander.
- Fill the pan with water again, add salt and re-add the stock after the broth boils. This time we cook the product for 20 minutes, foam should no longer form. Some housewives add their favorite seasonings to the liquid at this stage, but this is not necessary.
Determining the readiness of the component is very simple - pieces of the product will simply settle to the bottom. Now you can use them to realize your culinary ideas.
Beneficial features
Porcini mushroom is an excellent meat substitute
The calorie content of boletus is 34 kcal per 100 grams . It can be recommended as a dietary product to anyone who wants to lose a couple of extra pounds. At the same time, you can’t eat a lot of mushrooms at once, because they are too “heavy” for the stomach. You should treat yourself to a mushroom dish no more than 2 times a week.
100 g of porcini mushrooms contain:
- 3.7 g protein;
- 1.7 g fat;
- 1.1 g carbohydrates;
- 89 g water.
In addition, the product is rich in:
- vitamins (C, B1, D, carotene);
- riboflavin, which stimulates hair and nail growth, is responsible for the health of the skin and thyroid gland;
- sulfur, selenium and polysaccharides, which help fight cancer;
- lecithin - a substance with anti-aging properties;
- ergothioneine - an amino acid that strengthens vision, renews liver cells, and has a beneficial effect on the kidneys and bone marrow;
- calcium and iron, involved in the formation of bone tissue and hematopoiesis;
- B-glucotate is an antioxidant that helps the body fight viruses.
Such a rich composition makes porcini mushroom a very useful product for humans. Doctors advise introducing it into the menu for patients with tuberculosis, anemia, and angina pectoris. Boletus is an excellent remedy for skin ulcerations and frostbite. This product is also used for the prevention of cancer.
Precautionary measures
Due to chitin, boletus mushrooms are difficult to digest by our digestive system. Mushroom dishes are not recommended for young children (under 7 years old), pregnant and nursing mothers, ulcer sufferers and patients with kidney disease. For people with problematic digestive systems, love for these delicacies can cause an exacerbation of existing diseases.
Fungal spores can cause allergies. People with overreacting immune systems should not eat them. You should also be very careful when picking mushrooms. Do not confuse white mushroom with gall mushroom! The latter is easy to poison.
If you are a novice mushroom picker, do not “hunt” near highways, landfills and industrial enterprises. Boletuses tend to accumulate radionuclides and heavy metals contained in the soil and air. These substances cause cancer.
Old mushrooms can be very dangerous to health
You should also not collect very old, “overripe” mushrooms. Over many months, they manage to accumulate such amounts of harmful substances that they become potentially hazardous to health.
Cooking features
Even our distant ancestors knew that for each type of mushroom there is “its own” dish. Boletus and boletus mushrooms, for example, are best marinated, stewed or fried. Broths and sauces (julienne) are prepared from boletus mushrooms. It is also excellent for frying, stewing, salting and pickling. For the winter, porcini mushrooms are frozen or dried. The second option allows you to preserve the maximum of nutrients and protein.
Preparatory process
You need to clean the mushrooms very carefully, avoiding rot.
Upon returning from the forest, freshly cut mushrooms should be cleaned immediately. If the pulp contains traces of eating by worms, the mushroom crop is soaked in salt water for 2 hours. Salt will force parasites to leave their cozy shelter.
Then the mushrooms are cleaned. First, carefully remove leaves and other debris. The skin is cut off from the tough legs. All places where worms may be located are cut out. There is no need to peel the skin off the caps of porcini mushrooms. It does not have any unwanted impurities and does not spoil the taste of the dish at all.
If boletus mushrooms are collected for drying for the winter, then they should not be soaked or washed. But for immediate cooking you will have to wash it thoroughly. Small mushrooms can be boiled and fried whole. Large specimens should still be cut into several parts.
Preliminary preparation
Any mushrooms, including porcini mushrooms, must undergo a processing stage before cooking. To begin with, you should carefully sort out the mushrooms, discarding rotten, spoiled units. Very often, sand and dirt are found in such a product. They are also necessarily deleted.
Mushroom stems are subject to processing. Their edge is completely cut off. As a rule, the edge is shrouded in dirt, which is almost impossible to remove efficiently. Often there are dots and dark inclusions. They may indicate the presence of worms. Therefore, it is also better to get rid of dots. To get rid of worms, mushrooms are filled with saline solution for 20-30 minutes.
Next you need to separate the caps and legs. Only now the product is thoroughly washed under running water. It is better to wait until the mushrooms dry before cooking or frying. Large units need to be cut, medium ones should be cut into two parts. If the mushrooms are small, they can be cooked whole.
How long to cook porcini mushrooms before frying and why
Cook fresh porcini mushrooms for at least 45 minutes
Experienced chefs always advise boiling the mushrooms first, and then frying or stewing. Pre-cooking cleanses the product of any unwanted impurities, bacteria and toxins. Even if the boletus grows in an ecologically favorable region, it still absorbs poisons and its own waste products from the soil.
The second important point concerns how long to cook porcini mushrooms before frying and how to do it. Pre-dried mushrooms should be soaked in cool water for two hours, frozen mushrooms should be thawed. The water after soaking is drained, the mushrooms are transferred to clean water and boiled.
The water should completely rupture the product. Cook like this: first bring to a boil over low heat, then reduce the heat and cook some more:
45 minutes - fresh mushrooms; 20 minutes - pre-dried; half an hour - frozen.
During this process, foam will form on the surface of the broth. It must be removed periodically with a slotted spoon. It’s easy to determine the readiness of the mushrooms: as soon as they all sink to the bottom of the pan, they are ready.
How long to cook for marinating
To preserve porcini mushrooms, boil them for 20–25 minutes in salted water with several bay leaves, constantly removing the foam. Then drain and add spices without draining the water (a mixture of peppercorns, 1-2 cloves, salt (if necessary), vinegar). You can add a cinnamon stick or any other favorite spices to suit your taste.
When marinating, boil porcini mushrooms in the same way as when canning. Jars with lids must be doused with boiling water or sterilized. Lay out the main ingredient, fill with brine, roll up and let them cool. Preserved mushrooms must be stored in the refrigerator or basement. The marinated ones can be opened after 2 days and eaten.
How long to cook porcini mushrooms for different cooking methods
Drying porcini mushrooms before cooking
Porcini mushrooms are dried only in their “natural” form, unwashed. If you plan to freeze them, you will first have to cut them into small pieces and boil them for 45 minutes.
Soups and broths are also prepared from pre-boiled boletus mushrooms. They are added to the water along with the potatoes half an hour before the dish is ready.
Before marinating, small and cut mushrooms are boiled for 35 minutes, large and whole ones - about 50. The same cooking time is observed for subsequent pickling of mushrooms.
These are the basic rules for pre-processing porcini mushrooms. After it, the product can be fried, julienned, stewed with vegetables and other dishes.
Why cook mushrooms
There are several types of heat treatment of harvested forest crops. Cooking is one of the simplest and most common methods. Why is it needed?
Firstly, mushrooms contain alkaloids that are hazardous to health. These are toxic compounds that should definitely be disposed of. Some types of mushrooms, for example, contain gilvelic acid. This is a powerful poison that has a destructive effect on the liver and kidneys and leads to death in 30% of cases. The poison is contained by strings - mushrooms very similar to morels. When cooked, it turns into liquid, so suspicious mushrooms are boiled in two waters, the first one must be drained, and the mushrooms are washed after it.
It is no coincidence that mushrooms are compared to a sponge. They instantly absorb all dirty and harmful substances from the environment, including radiation. Boiling helps reduce its level; with a single boil for ten minutes, the radiation level is reduced by 80 percent, and with a double boil, by 97 percent.
Cooking allows you to get rid of microscopic parasites, larvae, microorganisms, in general, to protect the human gastrointestinal tract as much as possible.
In addition, some types of mushrooms that do not pass the boiling water test may taste bitter. Therefore, you need to cook not only dangerous strings (which, in fairness, rarely end up in a mushroom picker’s basket), but also everyone’s favorite chanterelles, russula, milk mushrooms and even store-bought champignons.
How to cook mushrooms depends on their type. However, it is important to understand that when boiling, some of the nutrients and vitamins will go into the broth. Therefore, you need to pour a little water into the pan so that it only slightly covers the mushrooms.
