A very important part of Chinese cooking is to perfect an equation which has a complexity of smells, flavours and textures, just like cuisines from all over the world. Traditional Chinese food (not that crap you get at Mr. Chow’s or Kylie Kwong) focuses heavily on the texture. Concepts such as ‘crispness’ in the stalk of a vegetable; ‘chewiness’ in the gluten of a noodle; ’slipperiness’ in the skin of steamed chicken; or the ’softness’ of a well braised abalone are more heavily regarded in oriental cooking compared to Western styles. We spend hours and hours altering and / or enhancing the texture of our ingredients days before it is being cooked.
I started researching on this and found a way to prepare chinese mushrooms to maximize and enhance it’s texture to a (very slippery-gelatinous-chewy yet soft) concept we call 膠 (translated as rubber). Using this preparation, you can be sure that the next time you need to add mushrooms to a particular dish, it enhances the overall chewing experience, which somewhat resembles a cross between tofu and a gummy with a very smooth surface. Do make sure you have high-quality Chinese mushrooms – I have to thank Brian for mine!
Start by soaking your mushrooms in a large bowl of water
You have to do this for 48 hours, changing the water twice a day (am + pm)
After extensive soaking for two days, the stems should twist off. Do not cut them with scissors. We want to remove them by hand so that we can feel with our fingertips that none of the fibrous stalk is left behind. It is a little tricky at first, but you will soon become an expert.
Drain all the water, slightly squeezing out excess, and cover the mushrooms with cornstarch. Just rub them thoroughly with the cornstarch like you are bathing them with soap. This cleans and flushes out all the impurities inside all the crevices. Rinse them clean with water.
Heat a pot with one tablespoon of oil (goose oil is best, but any oil will do), add mushrooms, then cover with around 4-6 bowls of water, so that they are all submerged.
On REALLY LOW heat, cook for 7 – 8 hours.
Now they are ready – you can cook these in bulk, and freeze them in individual zip-lock bags. DO NOT DISCARD THE WATER as it provides excellent flavour for sauce. Just defrost whenever needed.
You can steam them in strips with tofu and mince meat, finely dice them with fried rice, shallow fry with a batter… anything! I would use them in braised dishes, something like a pork belly.
joke is on the chinese. perfection can never be achieved.
DOONG GOOOOOOO!
thanks for the recipe! so gonna try this and sautee with tofu!
its actually a secret ingredient i use in ALOT of my dishes to add depth n flavor… juss gotta watch out because alot of AMERICANS (not sure about over there) find it over powering … (americans are very very eh… gay when it comes to authentic flavors heheh )
a tip when preparing, never soak them for too long. they tend to have this “over-soaked” taste to it. and i find the smaller ones have a more tender, less over powering taste, and sweeter taste to it.
YUM YUM. I would do this in the dorms, but it takes too much time
i LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE chinese mushroom. I don’t know they’re so good. Send me some food you made from australia.
muahaha.
chinese mushrooms are delicious… loves!
sorry for random subscribing. but your food porn makes me drool. =) thanks for the tips, i just happen to be making mushrooms for dinner some time this week.. and i had no idea i have to soak them for that long.(thats why i sometimes taste that bitterness in them)
i love adding them to soups
Does it really work?? I normally just soak it in hot water, but then I never achieve that texture you’re talking about, like a fresh shitake mushroom
err so your a chef? i found you on cakalusas pg.
@lalaatemypants - nope. I just like to cook sometimes…
That looks like a lot of work