Button mushrooms are found in most supermarkets. The smallest ones can be cooked whole, or at most, are halved before cooking. They’re commonly added to sauces as they keep their shape well when cooked.
Light brown chestnut mushrooms are also readily available. They have a firmer texture and slightly stronger taste than white mushrooms.
Shiitake mushrooms are an oriental variety mostly used in Japanese and Chinese cooking. They’re more expensive than standard white mushrooms and have a slippery but silky texture when cooked. They’re luxurious treat when fried in butter.
Oyster mushroom have a delicate flavour and melting, frilly texture. They can be grey, brown or sometimes yellow. Oyster mushrooms are soft enough to tear and damage easily, so handle carefully.
Mushrooms are fresh if their caps are clean, bright, and have no blemishes or bruises.
1. To clean mushrooms, if they have any soil attached, carefully wipe each mushroom with a damp cloth or brush with a pastry brush. Avoid washing mushrooms as they will absorb water.
2. When cooking mushrooms, make sure they’re cut to uniform size so they cook evenly.
3. Use them as per recipe, or to simply sauté, heat a frying pan on a high heat with a few knobs of butter or a drizzle of oil. Once oil is hot or butter melted and foaming, add mushrooms. Cook mushrooms in a single layer and don’t overcrowd pan, otherwise they’ll steam rather than brown.
5. Leave mushrooms to cook undisturbed and only stir them occasionally. Moving them too much will prevent them from becoming golden.
4. Meaty mushrooms such as shiitake and chestnut will take about 3-4min to cook. Small button mushrooms will take about 2-3min, and delicate oyster mushrooms only about 1-2min.
5. Drain mushrooms on kitchen paper briefly if they’re a bit oily. Serve immediately.
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Easy Induction ceramic frying pan (22cm), Easy Induction frying pan (24cm), Kuhn Rikon UK. Oak chopping board, Lakeland. White China oval pie dish, White China oval plate, Traditional enamel oblong pie dish (18cm), Sophie Conran. ProChef’s knife, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. Wooden pastry brush, wooden spoon, chef's own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
