Do you cook 'em or chuck 'em?

[SlugLobber]

I just chop the buggers straight from the paper bag and lob them in the pan! No washing, no peeling and DEFINITELY no wasting of stalks! However, I am a Northerner by birth. Old habits die hard.

[Hans Mum]

I just chop the buggers straight from the paper bag and lob them in the pan! No washing, no peeling and DEFINITELY no wasting of stalks! However, I am a Northerner by birth. Old habits die hard.

thats how i do mine too SL...........is there any other way????

[citygirl]

thats how i do mine too SL...........is there any other way????

Another vote for this, from me *puts hand up*

[Nicos]

Same as SL, Hans Mum and citygirl..............

see page 2...

http://www.mushrooms.net.au/PDFs/StoringPreparing.pdf

[Nicos]

Piskie...saute the chopped stems in garlic butter and a dash of cream and put a spoonful at the base of the dish (before serving the soup ontop )and a sprinkle on the top ( not that Wellies recipes ever need improving!!!!)

Waste not want not....

( the stem is 1/3 of the mushroom!!!!)

[scarey55]

I rubs em with me fingers, pulls em off and eats em raw

[marigold007]

I wash, peel (if it's looking a little old), take off the stem, and chop all the bits, if it's an omelette. Well, sometimes-it depends on what I am cooking. Sometimes, like in a salad, I like to slice the whole mushroom so that I get a t-shaped slice. yes, that's very nice. Or, when in a dish like chicken cooked with red wine and shallots, I use the itty bitty mushrooms, whole, un-chopped, peeled, etc.

[lynda66]

pull the stalks out? peel? ..... bloody waste of time if you ask me, i usually just chuck em in whole straight from the bag or if they are big, i slice em in halves or quarters , darling son spends half an hour picking them out anyway, so may as well make it easy for him

[Finedon.Dandy]

Piskie you have had such a good response to this I think you should do a poll!

I dont peel, unless its the biguns and the skin is in an awful state. I NEVER wash, sometimes wipe with kitchen roll but often just wipe off mud with my fingers and dont worry too much (D eats far worse in the garden for starters!) I do use the whole thing though as I love them sooo much. My kids are weird - they dont like them - am trying to educate them though! LOL!!!

[Winged one]

Nine times out of 10, use the stalk and all. Rub off any visible dirt, depending on size and use may chop in halves, quarters or slices, and then use away.

If they are quiet old, especially in terms of when they were harvested (like the stalks coming away from cap rather than nicely still tightly held together), I may remove stalks and either compost them or use them in something else that doesn't require "prettyness".

If the toddler is helping me to cook, the stalks are removed carefully and the cap delicately broken u p into about 50 pieces each (even the tiny 'shrooms!). But they all get chucked into the pot in the end and it keeps her happy!!

[Nicos]

Finedon Dandy.....My son heaves at the merest sniff if a mushroom- although he ate them as a child (big child of 21 now)
When he was at Uni lectures one day his housemates snuck into his room and hid a couple of pounds of small mushroom in his bed/shelves/drawers/shower/loo/file boxes etc etc.

I'd have loved to have seen his face
Nothing like bonding with your house mates eh????

[Alison]

Just give them a quick rub and eat the lot whether I'm eating them raw or cooking them. If the stalks are very long then I'll chop them separately but why on earth would you want to waste the rest of it?????

[SueA]

My mum used to wash, peel & take the stalks off but I just cut the very tip off the end of the stalk where it might be a bit dirty & either wipe or give a quick rinse if dirty, slice & cook. You're not supposed to wash mushrooms as it ruins the flavour & or texture, can't quite remember which, you're supposed to brush them with a little mushroom brush, I'm sure I got one once with a little cloth bag for collecting wild mushrooms in but I've never been brave enough to do that in case I pick the wrong ones!

[piskieinboots]

.. why on earth would you want to waste the rest of it?????

quite so Alison! I have always chucked - but no more ...I am cured tell you

[JanieB]

Depends on the mushroom. Shop bought ones, just wipe and chop if needed, then cook. I might take the bottom off the stalk if it's dirty.

Field mushrooms is different. Especially horse mushrooms. The first one of those I ever cooked I didn't know what to do with. I took the stalk off, wiped ithe cap clean and cooked it whole. It filled the whole frying pan . My (then) husband poked a hole in it with a nail and hung it outside the kitchen door to keep the witches away .

I now know that I should have cut the bottom off the stalk and removed it from cap. Peeled the cap and cut into four. Cook stalk and top.