I've got 1.5 pounds of Char-Siu pork marinating in my fridge right now

[Modem Butterfly]

I've got two cups of shiitake mushrooms, 1 cut of carrots, 1/2 a cup of broccoli, 1/4 of bok choy and two jalapeno peppers cut up. When I get home, I'll steam some rice, cook up the pork, and dice up 4 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion, and 1/4 of cilantro. My partner, Will, will be supplying the Kirin. Char-siu pork, steamed rice and stir-fried veggies. Now that's good eating!

[NYC]

1. Am I invited?

If so, what time? Thanks in advance. (I'll bring a bottle of wine.)

[Modem Butterfly]

2. Come on over!

Dinner's at 8. No need for the wine, the pleasure of your company is more than enough!

[NYC]

3. Thank you.

I need pleasant thoughts, considering what tomorrow is. :hi:

[Modem Butterfly]

11. Kind of why we're doing it

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we won't spend one damn dime.

[KoKo]

4. How does one clean Shitake mushrooms. I've wanted to use them

but never figured out how to get them clean. I peel button mushrooms would that work? Any tips on dealing with them?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. You have to soak them

The dirt comes off when you soak them, but you've got to keep doing it until the water runs clean.

With dried shitakes, the water, with the dirt drained out, makes a great addition to stock.

[KoKo]

12. Thanks for the tips. My cookbooks say not to wash mushrooms

because they absorb the water and it ruins flavor..that's why I peel the Buttons. But if Shitakes can handle it, then I'll wash them. I have a couple of Chinese Recipes I've wanted to try for ages..but the looks of the mushrooms in the market kind of turned me off.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

15. Don't peel the buttons

You don't have to peel any mushrooms. You rinse them in running water, or, as with shitakes, soak them repeatedly, and you get the dirt out. Then, you pat them dry, you trim the stems, and you're in business.

Those cookbooks. I swear, they get more stuff wrong than they get right sometimes.

I got the greatest recipe for dried shitake mushrooms around here somewhere, but I can't look for it right now. It's so good, I have to make a quadruple batch, because everyone loves it that much. I'll look for it. You might like it.

[KoKo]

18. When you find it...PM me....I love cooking and recipes...but I worry

about having to be so agressive with the Shitakes....soak and rins..soak and rinse...it kind of turns me off. What do they have on them that's so bad that it's worse than the "Buttons" ???? :-)'s

[OldLeftieLawyer]

20. They've got narrow ribs that hold the dirt, that's why

Here's the recipe - it calls for dried, but you can use fresh just fine. I'm sure you'll like it. A lot. It's amazing.

http://tinyurl.com/5j2s3

[KoKo]

22. Thanks..."tiny gills" expains alot.. n/t

[KoKo]

23. perfect...sounds yummy and thanks for this. n/t

[Modem Butterfly]

16. WASH THEM GENTLY!

And don't soak. Use a strainer. Mushrooms will absorb liquid (it's part of why they're so yummy) so the trick is to minimize how much you give them to absorb.

[Modem Butterfly]

17. Another tip for using mushrooms:

Since mushrooms tend to absorb liquid, try sauteeing them lightly in a little garlic/shallot butter. They'll get a nice flavor and you won't have to worry about losing too much liquid.

[KoKo]

19. A friend gave me a "Mushroom Scrubber" years ago

it's tiny...but I've never used it...would this be good for the Shitakes? It has little platic tines and looks like it would be gentle?

I have the same problem with Portobello Mushrooms. I love to eat them out..but they look very "earthy" in the markets. Peel or scrub?

I'm sorry if I'm Hi-jacking your thread here about how to "properly wash" mushrooms, though. sorry...:-(

On Edit: If one has a certain mind twist...Mushroom care and grooming could be something that might come across as "sexual" in content..

Geeze...I'm really serious about cooking..so I wasn't trying to do something "below radar" here. :shrug:

[Modem Butterfly]

25. LOL!

I personally, scrub my Portabellas and my Porcinis, but you can go either way (in fact, a lot of folks recommend peeling for Porcinis, I just prefer not to). I would think big Portabellas could withstand the peeling better than most other mushrooms.

Don't worry about hi-jacking. This thread was intended to be a fun thread about food and eating, and it still is just that. And anyway, I personally LOVE mushrooms and could talk about them for hours. Mmmm... I think I'll make mushroom risotto tonight even...

It hadn't even occured to me that anything you said could be taken a different way. But that's pretty funny! Some people see sex EVERYWHERE!

:evilgrin:

[da_chimperor]

8. I just wash them well, dry them, and cut off the stem

You can leave it on as well, but I usually cut it off for appearance sake. You don't have to peel them at all. They're great! And the dried ones can be better than the fresh for some things because they have a richer flavor.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

21. Amen

All this peeling business - who came up with that? Mushrooms are good and tough little fungi. They don't need to be handled delicately.

See my post above, da, for a great recipe using dried Chinese mushrooms.

:)

[Modem Butterfly]

10. Wash, dry, remove stem

Use!

Mushrooms are great, but you have to clean all of them really, really well.

[flamingyouth]

5. Mmmm - sounds tasty!

:9

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Is that a metaphor for something?

(I'm just respoinding to your subject line)

[Modem Butterfly]

9. No sex threads!

:evilgrin:

I hadn't even thought of that. But I must admit, as a metaphor, it works.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Oh, that's right.

In fact, I'm alerting on this thread.


Perv.

[donheld]

14. and for dessert

[Modem Butterfly]

26. Mmmmm-MM! You know how to live!

:)

[bo44]

24. sounds great My favorite chinese rice plate is char siu with greens and

and gravy over rice. The Emerald in Stockton. Old time Gold Rush cooking.