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Dried Mushrooms

Mushrooms are peeled, stemmed, cleaned, dried in a gentle oven, stored, then boiled and added to cold gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Dried Mushrooms

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel the mushrooms and cut off the stems.

  2. Scrape out the fur entirely.

  3. Arrange the mushrooms singly on tins or dishes.

Dry and store

  1. Dry them gradually in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C).

  2. Once dried, store them in tin canisters away from damp.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the mushrooms in water, then drain well.

  2. Add the mushrooms to cold gravy and slowly heat until tender.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms
Provide the main savory flavour and a meaty, tender texture once rehydrated.
Cold gravy
Carries flavour and moisture into the dried mushrooms as they soften.

The step that matters

Dry them gradually in a gentle oven. Low, slow heat removes moisture evenly, so the mushrooms dry through without scorching or hardening on the outside. Rushing the drying with high heat can burn the surface and trap moisture inside, which encourages spoilage in storage.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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