My old head chef told me to never salt mushrooms until the end

I mean, he was super firm about it, said it draws out water and makes them steam instead of sear. I followed that for years, cooking them in a hot pan with just oil. Then a new sous in our Portland spot showed me his method: salt them right at the start. Tried it last week and they got this amazing, crispy crust I never got before. Has anyone else switched up their mushroom method and seen a big difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

noranguyen1mo agoMost Upvoted

My buddy had the same exact thing happen. He always salted late, then his new roommate showed him the early salt trick. Now his mushrooms are way crispier.

barbaraw161mo ago

Wait, you were cooking them in just oil? No butter at all? That's the real shocker for me. I always start with a mix, the butter gives flavor and the oil keeps it from burning. Salting early makes sense if your pan is screaming hot.

hugo_jones12d ago

Actually, barbaraw16 there's a subtle thing about the butter that a lot of folks miss. If you start with butter in a screaming hot pan it'll burn before the mushrooms even hit the surface, leaving you with bitter brown bits instead of that golden crust. Butter has milk solids that toast at a lower temp than what you want for searing mushrooms. I've ruined plenty of batches learning that one the hard way. The real trick is oil first for the sear, then toss in a pat of butter at the very end to finish them off and get that flavor. As for the salt thing, I've been team early-salt for about two years now and it's wild how much better the texture gets when you trust that crisping power.