Mushrooms can be prepared for winter, fried, or added to a salad.
How to Cook Mushrooms
Start by sorting the mushrooms and immediately discarding any wormy or spoiled ones. Next, shake off the hats and legs from the ground, needles, and other forest debris. Finally, rinse the mushrooms under running water.
It’s not worth it to cut the mushrooms into pieces before boiling – it’s better to chop them after boiling. You can sort mushrooms by size. Small, whole specimens are best for salting and pickling, while large ones are typically used in salads, pastry fillings, or seasoned with sour cream and served as a side dish.
Cooking Time: Medium and large mushrooms will cook in 20-25 minutes, while small ones will take only 15 minutes.
If you plan to do further processing of the mushrooms after boiling, reduce the boiling time. Medium and large mushrooms must be boiled for:
- frying, stewing, and baking: 10 minutes
- freezing: 10 minutes
- salting in a hot way: 5-10 minutes
- pickling: at least 15 minutes, depending on the recipe
Small mushrooms should be boiled for a few minutes less. For soup, these mushrooms are usually not pre-boiled.
Cooking Method: Put the mushrooms in a saucepan and cover with water at room temperature. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat. Stir occasionally and skim off any foam that appears on the surface. Add salt at the very end of cooking, no more than a teaspoon per liter of water.
Once they are finished cooking, throw the mushrooms into a colander to drain excess liquid.