What Are Mushrooms, porcini and How Can I Use Them?

Mushrooms, porcini rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 26 recipes to cook with them.

Key Points

Prized wild mushroom (Boletus edulis, cèpe in France) with deep, meaty, umami-rich flavor.
Soak dried porcini 20 to 30 minutes, then strain and use the soaking liquid for half the flavor.
A scant half ounce of dried porcini flavors a sauce for four people.
Sear fresh ones hard with room in the pan; crowding steams them gray and rubbery.
Cremini, portobello, or shiitake substitute in a pinch but lack the wild, nutty perfume.

What is mushrooms, porcini?

Porcini are wild mushrooms with a deep, meaty flavor and a heady forest aroma. Known in Italy as porcini and in France as cèpes, they are the same species, Boletus edulis, central to Italian cooking and used widely across France and Eastern Europe.

You will meet them two ways. Fresh porcini, in season in fall and sometimes spring, are firm and round-capped with a sponge of pores under the cap instead of gills. Dried porcini are far more common year-round, sold as amber slices that pack a concentrated savory punch.

Their flavor is what people chase. Porcini are rich in natural glutamates, the same compounds behind the savory hit of Parmesan and soy sauce, which is why even a small handful deepens a whole pot.

Cooking With Porcini

Dried porcini need a soak. Cover them in warm water for 20 to 30 minutes until soft, then lift them out and chop them, but save the soaking liquid.

Strain that dark liquid through a paper towel to catch grit, then pour it into your risotto or sauce.

A little goes a long way.

Half an ounce (about 15 grams) of dried porcini, soaked, will flavor a sauce for four, which is how Fresh Porcini Tomato Sauce and Ciuffetti with Porcini Mushrooms get such depth from so few mushrooms.

Fresh porcini are best treated simply so their texture and aroma come through. Slice them thick and sear them hard in olive oil and butter, letting them brown before you add garlic, the approach in Crostini Di Polenta Ai Funghi and Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms.

They love long, slow cooking too. Stir them into a braise or a risotto, or build a Warm Porcini Soup around them, and the flavor melts into the background and lifts the whole dish.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Porcini belong with earthy, starchy foods. Polenta, pasta, risotto, and gnocchi are classic carriers, while butter, cream, garlic, thyme, and a hard grating cheese round out the savoriness. They have a real affinity for poultry and red meat, the backbone of Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms and many a slow braise.

The most common mistake is throwing away the soaking liquid. That water holds half the flavor you paid for, so straining and using it is the difference between porcini-flavored and merely porcini-scented.

The second is crowding the pan with fresh ones. Mushrooms are mostly water, and a packed pan steams instead of browning, leaving them gray and rubbery. Give them room and let the moisture cook off before you stir.

Substitutes

Dried porcini are their own best substitute when fresh are out of season, and they keep almost indefinitely, so most cooks reach for the bag rather than a different mushroom.

Among fresh options, cremini and portobello are the closest in body, with a meaty bite, though they lack the wild, nutty perfume. Boost them with a small handful of dried porcini in the dish to bridge the gap.

Shiitake brings a comparable savory depth and works well in soups and braises, leaning a touch more toward umami than nuttiness. Dried shiitake and its soaking liquid make a fair stand-in when dried porcini are unavailable.

In a pinch, a spoonful of mushroom or beef stock plus a few sauteed button mushrooms approximates the savory base, if not the aroma.

Buying and Storing

For dried porcini, look at the slices through the bag. You want large, pale-to-amber pieces with a strong woodsy smell; lots of crumbs, blackened bits, or a musty odor signal old or low-grade stock. Quality varies wildly by brand, and the good stuff is worth the premium.

Dried porcini keep for a year or more in an airtight jar in a cool, dark cupboard. If you see fine webbing or live pantry moths, they are infested; freezing the sealed bag for a few days after purchase prevents it.

Fresh porcini are perishable and rarely cheap. Choose firm, heavy caps with a clean, springy pore layer underneath. Pass on any that feel slimy or smell sour or are riddled with worm holes.

Store them unwashed in a paper bag in the fridge and use within two to three days, since they deteriorate fast.

Never soak fresh porcini in water to clean them. Brush off dirt and wipe with a damp cloth instead, because the sponge-like flesh drinks up water and turns soggy when cooked.