Dry Sauteing wild mushrooms; concentrate the flavor!

M'Lady wrote some tips on dry sauteing mushrooms (that is, initial cooking without any oil etc to get out the moisture from the mushroom and so concentrate the flavor)

Dry Sautéing Wild Mushrooms

Trim and rinse mushrooms thoroughly.  Submerge in cold water for a few minutes if heavily soiled.  This is contrary to what many recipes state – but they are wrong.  http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=38792
Mushrooms will soak up a tiny bit of water if they are left submerged for an extended period, but they are largely water anyway and therefore will not soak up much.  Water content is not a limiting issue when dry sautéing anyway.  Dirt, leaves and/or maggots are far more offensive.  If you are concerned about maggots, dissolve as much salt as possible in the water and submerge the mushrooms for a few minutes.  This is according to Barbara Kafka author of Vegetable Love http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Love-Barbara-Kafka/dp/1579651682  Slice the mushrooms if they are big like porcini.  Chanterelles and the like are fine whole, so long as pieces are uniform.

Once rinsed, dry the mushrooms with a towel or salad spinner.  Place the mushrooms in a completely dry, preheated (medium heat) stainless steel sauté pan, or for a larger quantity, an enamel Dutch oven.  I do not recommend a non-stick surface this does not produce much successful browning.  Do not worry about crowding the mushrooms (another myth). 

Make sure the mushrooms do not scorch in the pan.  Turn down the heat if they do.  The mushrooms may begin to “squeal” in the pan.  This is normal and very exciting. Do not worry too much about sticking to the pan at this point. 

Soon, the mushrooms will start to give off water.  When this occurs, salt evenly with about 1 tsp of salt.  As the mushrooms begin to give off more and more water. turn up the heat to medium high at least.  Continue until the mushrooms are getting close to dry.

Add fat to the pan – I prefer unsalted butter (1 T plus) and a little olive oil to keep it from burning.  Do not use salted butter as it tends to scorch.   Your mushrooms should begin to brown gently.  When they do, you can add garlic or shallots.  When fairly brown, you can add a small amount brandy or cognac and cook off or flambé.  This brings out some of the earthiness of the ‘shrooms. Add more salt if necessary, then pepper.

Cool technique NB. Sounds like it's a bit tech but also like it'd be worth the work. Thanks for the post, I'll give that one a try.

Z