Today, we're gonna go over

some of the most commonly found, rare, and delicious

edible mushrooms.

We're gonna be slicing dicing, frying, and tasting.

Oh, my God!

Over 15 types of mushrooms.

[upbeat music]

Okay, since there is so much to consider,

we're going break it down into chapters,

to try to keep things simple.

In chapters one and two,

we're going to break down some of the most common

edible mushrooms,

like the ones that you're most likely to encounter

in your market.

We'll take a look into what makes each category unique,

and cook some delicious dishes to show you

the best ways to utilize them.

In chapter three, we'll be looking at even more mushrooms,

and compare them to some that I've been growing at home.

We'll also talk about mushrooms as a meat substitute,

and make some delicious king trumpet steaks.

And in our final chapter,

we'll talk about some specialty mushrooms,

like this black truffle.

Chapter one, The Big Three.

Here we have three of the most common mushrooms,

white button, cremini and portobello.

Combined, these three mushrooms

account for over 90% of mushroom consumption,

but that's not all.

The secret truth about these mushrooms

is that they are all the same mushroom.

[crowd gasps]

That's right,

portobellos are just mature criminis,

and white buttons are just the young, white version

of criminis.

Even though these three mushrooms

are technically the same species,

they can have different uses.

So let's get into what makes them each unique.

White button aka champignon.

He's so cute.

It's one of the most cultivated varieties in the world,

and has been grown for centuries.

These grow in the dark,

and they were believed to have first been grown

in the catacombs beneath Paris.

So when you're buying white buttons in the store,

you'll probably find them in a package like this.

If you're not cooking with them right away,

take them out of the package and put them in a paper bag.

This will help them breathe and get ventilation.

Man down!

So when you put them in the refrigerator,

you can even leave the paperback open,

so that the air flow can circulate,

and that they don't get slimy and mushy.

If you leave them in an airtight container for a few days,

like I did,

they start to get slimy,

and they'll also bruise.

They'll get brown spots

from where the moisture is starting to come out.

It'll just accelerate them breaking down and rotting.

So you wanna let them breathe and have plenty of space.

It is very common as a topping on pizza,

where you'll just see it sliced

and then scattered over the top,

and baked on top of the pizza.

They can be eaten raw, as long as they're clean,

and they don't really taste like much,

but they have a very spongy kind of texture,

that's kind of firm, has a little crunch to it,

but not a ton of flavor.

So these are white buttons that have just been roasted,

with a little oil and salt.

You can see the color deepens

as the moisture content starts to come out

and they shrivel up a little bit.

Mm.

It does concentrate their flavor,

a lot more of that, kind of like deep caramelized flavor,

but still on the milder side.

Cremino aka Baby Bella.

So these are crimini.

This is a cremino,

kind of like octopus and octopi.

I don't think that's a thing.

[elevator music]

When purchasing these mushrooms,

check under the cap to see if the gills are covered.

Typically, covered gills means that they'll have

a more delicate flavor.

The gills are these thin structures just underneath the cap.

The purpose of the gills is to create

and release spores for reproduction.

As you cook white buttons,

they start to get darker and turn brown anyway,

when the water starts to leech out.

So, unless you need that white color shaved raw on a salad,

feel free to use crimini for any use

that you would use white buttons for,

that's cooked anyway.

It tastes just like a white button,

spongy texture, firm, a little crunch to it,

but still very mild.

And look, without the outer layer,

it even looks like a white button.

These are portobello or portobella.

The name means beautiful door in Italian.

No one's really sure where it came from.

Some people say it was a marketing gimmick

that came about in the '80s, to make it sell better,

because it wasn't as popular as its smaller siblings.

And it worked.

Nowadays, these are incredibly popular.

Compared to the crimini,

these gills are much longer and very well-defined.

You always wanna check the gills on mushrooms like this,

to make sure that they're not holding any dirt,

or particles of sand, or twigs in between,

because that can really get caught in there.

Because of this shape and size,

they're great to use as buns,

as a bread replacement,

or you can do what I'm about to do and make mini pizzas.

[bright music]

So we're gonna make some mini portobello pizzas,

using the mushroom cap instead of a pizza crust.

So, first thing we're going to do is just

pop off the stem here.

We're just gonna scrape these out, using a spoon.

It's like a drum.

Instead of washing these in the sink,

we're just gonna wipe them off with a damp cloth,

just to remove any dirt that might be

on the outside of the cap.

Now we're ready to cook.

So we're just gonna start with a little bit of oil,

and we're gonna sear the mushroom gills side down first.

We're gonna let it soften,

and as it cooks, then we'll start pressing on the mushroom

to press out any of the excess moisture.

As it loses water,

it'll start to shrink a little bit.

And this you definitely want to do on high heat,

because you want the moisture to evaporate

as soon as it comes out of the mushroom.

It's kind of like searing a piece of meat.

This is like the size of one of those,

like Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas from back in the day.

See all that liquid?

That's probably about half of the volume that it was before,

maybe a little bit more than that.

All right, we are ready to top it.

So we're gonna start with our tomato sauce,

add a little bit of fresh basil.

This is freshly grated mozzarella.

We're gonna grate a little bit of Parmesan,

then we're gonna bake it in the oven,

until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.

[bright music]

Nice.

So this was in the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes at 375,

just until the cheese is melted

and bubbling and golden on top.

And now we're gonna top it with a little bit of fresh basil

and a little bit of grated Parmesan.

Come on, what could be better than that?

Mm, even though the mushroom is tender,

it still has some bite to it.

So you get a little bit of texture on the bottom,

and it has this like, rich earthiness,

that really compliments the Parmesan and the cheese.

I'm a huge fan of pizza crust,

but I think this is absolutely delicious.

And I think that you will love it.

Chapter two, Woody Mushrooms.

I'm calling these woody mushrooms,

because in the wild they grow on the sides of trees

and out of groundwood.

These mushrooms are very commonly used in Asian cuisines.

And in America, we refer to them by their Japanese names,

maitake, enoki, and shiitakes.

There are two types of shiitakes.

This one, which is probably more common here, in the US,

is the regular shiitake mushroom,

and this one, in Japan is referred to as the dongo,

it's much more rare and a lot more aromatic.

These both have a similar flavor,

although they look very, very different.

The typical shiitake that we see in the US

has a flatter cap, with a slight curl at the bottom.

The dongo has a bigger curl and a fatter cap.

It also has a crackly texture on the top,

that looks kind of like a loaf of bread,

after it's been baked.

So these are great for pickling,

and it's something very quick

that you can keep in your fridge for a long time.

You just wanna slice them straight across,

leaving a little bit of the stem.

We're just gonna add them straight to our jar.

And then we're just gonna throw

some aromatics in the jar.

Couple of dried chili peppers,

bay leaves, black peppercorns.

You can add whatever flavorings you want.

They're just a nice addition to pretty much anything

that you want a little bit of tanginess.

And if you put your chili peppers in,

anything that you wanna add a little spice.

Just gonna cover this up and keep it in your fridge.

It's best to let it sit for a day or two

before you start eating,

and it can last for up to three months.

This is the enoki mushroom.

In the wild, this mushroom has a dark brown color

and a shorter thicker stem,

but this is a cultivated version of enoki,

that is grown in the dark,

which prevents it from developing any color,

much like the white button.

They hold up great in soups and stews,

and make a great addition to salads,

because of their crisp texture.

And here we have a little cluster of roasted.

All they need is oil and salt.

You're not tryna cover it up.

You just really wanna roast them to intensify the flavor.

Mm.

I really love mushrooms, if you can't tell.

[elevator music]

Maitake mushrooms.

The name means dancing mushroom in Japanese.

I'm not 100% sure why they're called dancing mushroom,

but I think it's because if you're lucky enough to find one,

you'll do a little happy dance.

Cause these are definitely my favorite mushrooms.

[serene music]

Maitakes are known as polypores,

because unlike some of the other mushrooms that we've seen,

they don't have gills.

They release their spores through small pores on the back.

They smell kind of like beer or kombucha.

They have that kind of fermented, yeasty quality.

It's very heady and earthy and aromatic.

It's kind of like a damp forest floor,

like a forest floor that you wanna lick.