Royal hunt: what is cooked in restaurants with porcini mushrooms
Porcini mushroom is loved by gourmets due to its rich taste, pleasant characteristic aroma and delicate texture. In addition, it has a fairly low calorie content and perfectly stimulates appetite. For many, this mushroom is best revealed with a proven combination with potatoes, but today the masters of haute cuisine offer us many other interesting combinations. Izvestia found out how restaurant chefs in different regions of Russia experiment with porcini mushrooms.
Why chefs love and appreciate porcini mushrooms
It is no exaggeration to say that porcini mushrooms traditionally occupy one of the key places in the Russian gastronomic culture. Dishes with them always attract attention and are always popular with guests.
"Porcini mushroom is a very strong and multifunctional product that can easily give a head start to the European truffle in the restaurant industry," the chef of the Teriberka restaurant (Novosibirsk) told Izvestia Pavel Koledin. — Today it is used in a much more diverse way than before, it is added to cold and hot snacks, creams, bread, sauces, drinks and even desserts. And every year the potential of porcini mushrooms is revealed more and more.
Porcini mushroom carpaccio
According to Anton Tikhy, the brand chief of the Multiculture gastrobistros (Moscow), porcini mushrooms are an original Russian product. They have become part of the genetic code of our compatriots, as they have been actively used in food for many centuries. In addition, these mushrooms are ideal for those who have given up meat for various reasons.
"The porcini mushroom is much superior to the equally popular chanterelles in terms of its capabilities," says the brand chef of Duo Band (Duo Gastrobar, Harvest, Frantsuza Bistrot in St. Petersburg) Ivan Frolukhin. — It is a luxurious and versatile product, with a vibrant flavor, rich texture and is also available all year round. Even when frozen, it retains its qualities, especially when it comes to shock freezing.
How porcini mushrooms are cooked in different regions of Russia
Porcini mushrooms can be frozen, salted, pickled or dried, while they practically do not lose their taste and texture quality. This feature of the product has contributed to the fact that it has become one of the main elements in the cuisines of the peoples of the North and Karelia.
"Given the different storage techniques, the list of familiar dishes includes salted white with sour cream and rye bread, as well as pickled ones used as snacks," Ivan Balin, chef of the Karelian Museum—restaurant (Petrozavodsk), told our publication. — Dried whites make a wonderful stew with venison, and fresh mushroom is wonderful after light roasting with the addition of white wine, garlic and thyme.
The cooking method of porcini mushrooms in Karelia depends on their size, our interlocutor explained. The smallest ones (they are assigned an extra class) are used for pickling and pickling. Medium-sized specimens are great for use in familiar dishes, like fried potatoes with mushrooms. The largest ones are used for mushroom caviar with the addition of a small amount of onions, carrots and tomato paste, or dried in sliced form. Mushroom cones in the shape of cones are also prepared at the Karelian Museum-restaurant. Their body is made from traditional rye-wheat dough, and a filling of buttercream with mushroom flour is placed inside.
Fried porcini mushrooms with mushroom cream
— In the Chernozem region, porcini mushroom is mainly cooked fried with potatoes and buckwheat in a classic style, as well as in soups and pastries, — explained the chef of the Hayloft restaurant (Voronezh) Evgeny Matusevich. — But you can and even should play with them, experimenting with different techniques. For example, we cook ghee on dried porcini mushrooms, fry mushrooms with garlic and spinach on it and garnish with porcini mushroom mousse and sweet caramel from dark kvass. We also roast the duck and serve it with a side dish of fried potatoes with porcini mushrooms and mushroom cream.
Porcini mushrooms work great in Italian classics like pasta or risotto, adds brand chef Frolukhin. At Harvest, they are added to gnocchi with parmesan mousse. The whites are cooked in a confit style and then fried in the same oil. There are more complex options, for example, a combination of soft-boiled eggs, fried porcini mushrooms, capers, truffles and morel sauce. In general, according to our expert, porcini mushrooms can be combined not only with meat and cream, but also with fruits to add sourness, or smoked flavors — this helps to avoid standard combinations.
—Dried porcini mushroom gives the strongest forest flavor, so we use it in many dishes,— says Chef Koledin. — It's probably especially unusual to feel porcini mushrooms in desserts, but the Novosibirsk guest is not such an experimenter in food, so we give such bold combinations only in tasting sets, and if the dish takes root, then we leave it in the main menu.
Kulebyaka with porcini mushrooms
In the restaurant "Teriberka" they cook kulebyaku with omul — the author's version of wellington with champignonette with the addition of dried porcini mushrooms with a side dish of fried porcini confit mushrooms and mushroom broth sauce. As a flavor enhancer, dried porcini and oil from confit mushrooms are also added to beef stroganoff sauce.
Porcini mushroom carpaccio
"The texture of the porcini mushroom reminds me a lot of scallop, and this opens up new ways to create interesting combinations with it,— says brand chef Tikhy. — At Multiculture, we cook it in butter and serve it with wasabi sauce, and this sharpness and spice reveal the taste of porcini mushroom in a completely different way. Another unusual dish with porcini mushrooms is currently in development — borscht with Kamchatka crab: in mushroom broth with the addition of mushrooms themselves.
How chefs recommend working with porcini mushrooms
It seems that we all know perfectly well how to handle porcini mushrooms, but there is always something to learn from the masters of haute cuisine.
— I prefer to lightly boil porcini mushrooms, then cool sharply, dry and chop, and then fry in butter until golden brown, preserving the texture and taste, — chef Matusevich shares his method, - And all the trimmings and ugly mushrooms can be used for sauce, cream or side dish, whipped into a tender mousse.
Chef Koledin recommends cooking fresh porcini mushrooms in oil at a low temperature. At the exit, you will receive two saturated products at once — mushroom oil and lightly fried porcini mushrooms, which can be added to different dishes. For mushroom broth, it is better to choose dried white ones, they will give more flavor and improve the consistency of the dish.
— To carefully peel a whole frozen porcini mushroom, take it by the cap, dip the stem under a stream of cold water for two seconds and gently scrape off the peel, — recommends brand chef Tikhy. — Try not to cut off a significant part of the product, but use what you remove from the stem to make broth.
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