Dried mushrooms

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

I use them a lot in casseroles - not very many at a time, just enough for that mushroomy taste. They are also a valuable stand by in the absence of fresh.
Our local, smallish, Tesco doesn't stock them of late, so I buy them from the big Tesco on the order. However, even they don't stock them now.
Bear in mind that this corner of N Wales is not a metropolis for any shops likely to sell them.
Can you recommend a good online supplier please? (we don't do Amazon)

[scullion Profile]

have you thought about drying your own for later use? buy them when cheap and put them in a very low oven to dry before putting in a jar.
they dry very easily.

[Suffs Profile]

I use a tablespoon or two from a bottle of George Watkins' mushroom ketchup for the same purpose in casseroles, sauces etc ... I try to keep a bottle in my cupboard ... (you can get it from some delis and farm shops, also available online about £4 a bottle and keeps for years) ... also those mushroom stock cubes you can get in Lidl, and I think Morrisons and some other supermarkets have them. At a push I've been known to use part of a pack of Knorr mushroom soup powder.
I tend to save the more expensive dried mushrooms (Waitrose) to give a bit of a zing to a mushroom risotto.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Do you mean dried porcini aka cèpes aka boletus? Those are the usual ones in European cooking though I also have shiitake for Chinese food and I have had morels in the past

Sous chef are usually reliable
https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/cep ... 7sQAvD_BwE

I have a question of my own
Local refill shop sells mixed dried mushrooms which include both porcini and shiitake and something else - any idea what you could do with them? I can’t think of a use, the shiitake are so much tougher than the others

[scullion Profile]

i haven't seen mushroom stock cubes in lidl - i'll have to look more carefully. i buy them at the local eastern european shop - which also sell dried mushrooms.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Round here the Kallo mushroom stock cubes are easy to find - supermarket, deli and whole food shop all stock them. Whole/health food shops including Holland &Barrett

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

I use a tablespoon or two from a bottle of George Watkins' mushroom ketchup for the same purpose in casseroles, sauces etc ... I try to keep a bottle in my cupboard ... (you can get it from some delis and farm shops, also available online about £4 a bottle and keeps for years) ... also those mushroom stock cubes you can get in Lidl, and I think Morrisons and some other supermarkets have them. At a push I've been known to use part of a pack of Knorr mushroom soup powder.
I tend to save the more expensive dried mushrooms (Waitrose) to give a bit of a zing to a mushroom risotto.

Tesco does small bottles, so added to next order, thanks.
Good idea to dry my own, thanks.

[liketocook Profile]

I'd second the Geo Watkins mushroom ketchup and Tesco also sell Kallo Mushroom stock cubes.

[slimpersoninside Profile]

Does anyone know if that mushroom ketchup has garlic or onions in it please?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Does anyone know if that mushroom ketchup has garlic or onions in it please?

No I just looked at my bottle, no alliums

I have to disagree though with the majority, I don’t think it tastes much of mushrooms, more like brown sauce which isn’t surprising looking at the ingredients

Ingredients. Water, Salt, Spirit Vinegar, Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein [Water, Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein, Salt], Mushroom Powder (3%) [Concentrated Mushroom Juice, Maltodextrin], Barley Malt Extract, Spices.

[slimpersoninside Profile]

Thanks Sue .

[Suffs Profile]

Doesn’t taste to me anything like HP or Daddies brown sauce, both of which I know well. It tastes like a very different kettle of fish to me and anyway … it’s not as if it’s a table sauce … its function is to enhance other flavours and add a mushroomy note which I find it does very well.
What do you use it in SSue?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I used to put it in casseroles and stews, but very seldom, I’d be more inclined to use actual mushrooms, dried or fresh, and a shake of Lea & Perrins or even Maggi seasoning.

Incidentally an Italian chef on tv recently pointed out that if they aren’t gritty enough to need a soak to clean them, you might as well put your dry mushrooms directly into any dish in which they will cook in liquid for more than 20 minutes, they will rehydrate perfectly and no flavour can escape

[herbidacious Profile]

I have used the Sous Chef too although nigh impossible to use without buying all sort of other hard-to-source goodies too (You have to make it worth the delivery costs, after all...) I am also assuming you mean fancy ones, such as ceps.
I have also used the follwing for various things:
Carluccio's? (online) https://www.carluccios.com/?s=mushroom&search=
The Spice Shop? https://thespiceshop.co.uk/
Seeds of Italy? https://seedsofitaly.com/search.php?sea ... y=mushroom

But you'd need to justify the delivery cost, I suppose.