I’ve always had an irrational dislike of mushrooms. Primarily because of the rubbery texture. Also, the childhood memories of being repeatedly warned that wild mushrooms are poisonous.
I understand store bought mushrooms are safe to eat. I’m trying hard to shake off this lifetime phobia of mushrooms.
What flavors are they supposed to add to the dish? Why are they used?
My local cafeteria offers a wonderful bacon cheddar chicken breast. It has a juicy mustard & vinegar based sauce between the chicken breast and melted cheese. Big pieces of grilled bacon are placed in the melted cheese. I look forward to buying it every Saturday.
They cover it in sliced mushrooms. I use a fork to pick them off. There’s at least 7 slices that I put in the wet kitchen trash bag.
I often overlook a couple buried in the cheese. Today I didn’t spit them out! I kept chewing those rubbery things along with the chicken. I’m making some progress in learning to like them.
Why do people’s eyes light up at mushrooms added to pizza?
In terms of flavor technicalities, I think mushrooms are high in umami which tends to make the taste of savory foods richer and more appealing. Or something. (I love mushrooms but would never eat them as part of something sweet.)
Yes, high in umami. Some people like the texture. In a lot of savory dishes the flavor gets lost with thin slices or small bits, bigger chunks of shroom work better there. Some of them are just rubbery, but most fresh mushrooms shouldn’t be that chewy.
Food aversions are difficult to overcome and often not worth the effort. After all there are plenty of things to eat that aren’t mushrooms.
If your aversion is primarily caused by texture and you are interested in experiencing the taste try taking off the mushroom slices and turning them into a paste with a blender or a fork. I sometimes do this with onions in recipes where the onions are essential to the flavor profile and one of the eaters is a pick the onions out type.
I had heard mushrooms are used as a meat replacement in veggie dishes.
I thought maybe they tasted like steak. No such luck.
I’m making progress. I got past the gag reflex last year. Gagging isn’t pretty. I had to stop doing that. I’ll gradually chew more mushrooms and start noticing the taste.
Right now I chew them with the other food and try very hard to pretend mushrooms aren’t in it. The chewy texture always tells me otherwise.
People put them in so many dishes. I’ve grown tired of picking them out with a fork. Life is easier to just chew and swallow quickly.
Texture can play a big part in the enjoyment or hatred of food. I personally LOVE mushrooms cooked in butter and wine. I like the taste and texture so it’s a win/win for me.
Mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, with a touch of salt and pepper, until slightly browned, with a splash of lemon juice. What better accompaniment to a grilled steak or chop?
I don’t like the texture of all mushrooms, so I cut up some varieties. My partner likes the taste but not the texture of shallots and uses the same strategy. This make duxelles (which Smapti mentioned above) an excellent choice meeting both our needs.
Different varieties of mushrooms have different textures, but a lot also depends on how they’re prepared. I’m a huge fan of all mushrooms but I don’t typically like them sliced up because it tends to ruin the texture, the nice semi-firmness of a whole or halved mushroom. One of my favorite dishes is spaghettini with a mellow pasta sauce, with or without meatballs, but with whole cremini mushrooms sauteed in Provençal garlic butter all over it. Another favorite is prepared broiled balsamic marinated whole mushrooms that I get from a wonderful boutique deli.
Three of my favorites with grilled steak and other barbecue are extra-large creminis (large for ease of grilling), king oyster mushrooms sliced in half, or portobellos, all appropriately marinated – I generally use a mixture of a very tangy garlicky Japanese vinaigrette and a few dashes of teriyaki. I serve portobellos whole, on top of the steak, the diners to deal with them as they see fit. King oysters are particularly firm chewy mushrooms, but in a good way.
Another fave is dehydrated porcini mushrooms, which have a very strong flavor and are excellent in gravies and savory rice dishes. The occasional bits add a nice texture, but they’re mainly there for the flavor.
I like mushrooms in general. White button shrooms, creminis, oysters, and chanterelles are all great. I can’t get past the smell of shitakes, though. And I find the gills on a full grown portobello off putting. Chop them up and they’re OK.
My neighbor has a strong aversion to shrooms. I forget why it came up, but he is very adamant that he will never eat a mushroom.
There’s a pizza place near where I used to live that did a “truffled cremini” pizza. They sliced the creminis thin and fried them so that they were really crispy. Man, that was awesome pizza.
I was a picky eater as a youngster and that didn’t really start changing until I was nearly 20. But even as I became more adventurous in my pursuit of new gustatory delights I was slow to embrace mushrooms due to texture issues.
Fortunately I persevered, mainly by trying oven-roasted specimens of shiitake and portobello species. My oh umami, was that ever delicious! Now just about any edible type is a delicious treat to me, and tonight we enjoyed a lovely ratatouille that was extra heavy with that delectable class of food, along with extra doses of eggplant. A completely meatless dish that truly satisfied!
Even nicer, a few years back we had a surprise batch of morels spring up on our property, where none had ever been noted before. They got harvested, sauteed in butter, and devoured. Sadly, we’ve found no further examples of such unanticipated bounty.
I never ate them until 2 years ago. I generally don’t love them until…
Look, I never was a real cook, I was a warmer upper. Roommate is a cook. He also has MS. I told him that if he didn’t mind working with a complete idiot, I had arms and legs that work, so tell me how to cook and I’ll do it.
Get 4 oz of mushrooms. It’s easier if you buy them washed and sliced but you can do that yourself. Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and put it on the stove. Add a 1/2 tablespoon of bacon base. When it all melts down, toss in the mushrooms. Stir/saute for a while. Eat them with something, maybe as a side. This dish will change your mind about mushrooms.
I’m going to go against the crowd here and say that I mildly dislike mushrooms. While they certainly provide umami, there’s another flavor element–probably an aromatic–that I find unpleasant. It’s not really strong*, and I may overlook it if the dish is otherwise appealing, but I’d generally rather avoid them.
*Usually. I have been driven out of a room by the smell of truffle oil.
