Mushrooms

As hard as it is to imagine these days, with several kinds of cultivated mushrooms and an extravagant assortment of wild mushrooms in the market, a generation ago mushrooms were considered exotic.

The most common mushroom is the cultivated white mushroom. But in recent years, cremini mushrooms, which are brown instead of white and are popular in Europe, have become more widely available, usually at the same price. They contain less water than white mushrooms, so you get more mushroom per pound.

When cooking any cultivated mushrooms and most wild mushrooms, always keep in mind that they contain a lot of water. For example, if you are making a quiche and put raw mushrooms in the shell before pouring over the custard mixture, the mushrooms will release water during baking and end up surrounded by little puddles. For most recipes in which mushrooms are used as a garnish, in a sauce, or in a stuffing, the mushrooms are sautéed first to brown them and to evaporate their moisture and concentrate their flavor. But you can also steam them with a little water and capture the liquid they release for adding to sauces.