The birch bark, along with the cep and boletus, is considered one of the most valuable products that nature can please a person. It has a whole complex of nutrients, as well as a mild and delicate taste. But, to turn a boletus in a truly gourmet dish, you will need to prepare it in high quality. The article describes in detail how to properly boil fresh mushroom before cooking and what it is for.
Do you need to boil brown mushrooms before cooking?
Often, most mushroom lovers during the preparation of forest delicacies focus exclusively on pre-cleaning and washing the boletus. In fact, the decision is justified, this species is absolutely safe for the body, and during growth and development it is not able to form harmful or hazardous toxins. In addition, it also differs in a rather tender and aromatic flesh, without any impurities of bitterness, which by itself removes the need for cooking the product.
Did you know? The oldest mushroom grows in the United States, in Oregon. This is a giant honey agaric 8.5 thousand years old whose mycelium covers an area of almost 10 thousand km.
However, in reality, things are not so rosy. Unfortunately, today in nature there are really no environmentally friendly places deprived of derivatives of burning fuel and other substances toxic to humans. Mushrooms, on the other hand, are natural adsorbents in the forest; they absorb not only harmful industrial toxins, but also radionuclides in the natural environment freely or in bound form.
In turn, cooking is the only way available to most to reduce the amount of harmful toxicants in the pulp, and in some situations it helps to almost completely clear the forest product.
Boiling even for a short time releases most of the harmful substances into the water, and also makes it possible to reduce the concentration of radionuclides in the final dish by 50-60%. That is why everyone is recommended to cook mushrooms today, especially if they were collected not far from motorways, manufacturing enterprises, etc.
In addition, cooking is also a necessary procedure for preparing the most healthy mushroom dish.. It allows you to almost completely clear the product of forest litter and soil, and with proper observance of the process to improve the digestibility of the pulp. And this, in the end result, increases the use of mushrooms for the body.
Important! The most safe are small fruiting bodies. They practically do not have time to absorb toxins from the soil, while large ones are guaranteed to contain harmful compounds.
The process and duration of boiling
To properly boil boletus, without spoiling the consistency of the pulp and its taste, it is necessary to take into account the subsequent culinary processes. In this case, the preliminary preparation should be divided into cooking for salting, freezing, drying, frying mushrooms and cooking the first dishes. Next will be described in detail all the subtleties of the initial heat treatment of mushrooms.
Before freezing for the winter
To freeze mushrooms until the next season, and then, if necessary, enrich all kinds of dishes with them, it is recommended to boil them until fully cooked. This will make it possible to preserve the color and structure of the pulp, as well as create the ideal workpiece for instant cooking.
To do this, you must:
- Peel and wash the fruits thoroughly (they should be cleaned under cool running water).
- Place the birch mushrooms in a pot and pour water.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and boil over medium heat. For small mushrooms, the procedure is performed for no more than 30 minutes; large ones are boiled for about 45 minutes.
- After cooking, the fruit must be washed under running water, and then dried.
Before frying
Frying also requires thoroughly boiled pulp. To cook mushrooms in your own juice or to create a vegetable or meat dish on their basis, you need to process the product almost completely.
Mushrooms should be cooked as follows:
- The fruits should be washed under running water and peeled and contaminated.
- Next, the mushrooms should be chopped to the same size, placed in a pan, pour water and bring to a boil.
- Boletus boil for about 20 minutes. over medium heat.
- At the end of the procedure, the mushroom preparation should be washed and slightly dried.
Before pickling
To create the best pickles from the boletus, the fruits should be double processed. Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve not only the safety of the final dish, but also to create a really delicate pulp.
Important! During cooking, it is imperative to remove the foam from the water film. It contains all kinds of contaminant particles, which after cooking can remain on the surface of the fruit.
Carry out this procedure as follows:
- The peeled and washed boletus should be placed in a boiling brine over medium heat for about 30 minutes.
- The resulting liquid is drained, and the fruits are washed.
- In a separate pan, you need to boil clean brine, and then boil the mushrooms in it over medium heat for about 10 more minutes. Further, the fruits become suitable for any salting recipe.
For soup
Boletus browns are in harmony with almost any soup recipe, however, for this they must be properly boiled. Long-term processing is unacceptable, since often it negatively affects the structure of the pulp.
To prepare the mushrooms for the most delicious soup correctly, you should:
- Peel and rinse the fruit under cold water.
- Grind the boletus to a homogeneous state, while in the first dishes only small pieces look most harmonious.
- Pour mushrooms into boiling water, and boil no more than 20-30 minutes. over medium heat.
- Add fruit to boiling soup in about 10 minutes. until ready.
Dried boletus
If you need to cook dried mushrooms, first you need to soak them in clean water at room temperature for about 2 hours. The procedure is mandatory, since only in this case you can fully reveal the taste of the product.
The basic technology of pre-cooking involves the following steps:
- Boil water in a clean saucepan.
- Salt the boiling liquid, a generous pinch of rock salt should be added to 1 liter of water.
- Place the birch bark into the brine, and then simmer them over low heat for about 2 hours.
- The liquid is drained, and the mushrooms are washed with clean running water.
Did you know? The birch bark is considered one of the champions in terms of growth rate among living organisms. During the day, it is able to lengthen up to 4 cm, while gaining mass up to 10 g.
Calorie cooked boletus
The birch bark is one of the most low-calorie foods, while it perfectly satisfies hunger, and also provides the body with valuable protein. The calorie content of the fresh fruit is approximately 30 kcal / 100 g of pulp.
Moreover, the quantity:
- protein is 2.3 g / 100 g;
- fats - about 0.9 g / 100 g;
- carbohydrates - up to 3-4 g / 100 g.
Preliminary boiling of the fungus can reduce its calorie content to 20 kcal / 100 g of pulp, reduce the amount of fat to 0.8 g / 100 g, and carbohydrates to 1.2 g / 100 g. However, the process does not affect the concentration of proteins important for the body , even with prolonged cooking, the total amount of the substance does not decrease by more than 0.5–0.3 g / 100 g.
Despite the complete edibility, the boletus must necessarily be pre-cooked. This culinary process helps quickly and effectively remove all kinds of toxins and heavy metals from the soil from mushrooms. In addition, the procedure makes it possible to simplify the preparation of mushroom dishes, as well as make them as easy as possible for digestion.