How to Used Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (蚝油焖冬菇/冬菇炖鸡汤/酿冬菇)

Three recipes - Braised Shiitake Sauce, Chicken and Shiitake Soup, and Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms.

Dried shiitake mushrooms are one of my absolute favorite ingredients, simply because of just how versatile they are.

You can let them soak and reconstitute and that soaking liquid can be used to flavor dishes just like a stock can. Alternatively, you can also toss them in soups to give quick broths a level of depth and richness that you'd otherwise need, like, a whole day of simmering to accomplish.

And that's not even to mention the mushrooms themselves, which've got this deep flavor and a meaty like richness that you just… can't really get from fresh mushrooms. Because sort of like tinned tomatoes, shiitakes are picked in-season and the very best ones are saved for drying. It ends up being an ingredient wouldn't be out of place at bougie seafood banquet, but also absolutely's something that normal people in normal villages would cook with in order to make something… nice. Though historically speaking, a special occasion kind of thing.

But even outside of Guangdong, you see Dried Shiitakes all over east Asia… and is, I think, an awesome ingredient to have around no matter where or what in the world you're cooking.

How to reconstitute shiitake mushrooms

Now, no matter what usage you're gunna be going for here, you'll first need to reconstitute your shiitake mushrooms. Easy enough, just needs a touch of time.

Just first give your mushrooms a good wash to get out any stray schmutz, then toss in a bowl and soak with cool water. The time needed to soak is going to be at least six hours and up to 24.

After that time, squeeze any excess liquid out of the shiitake, and slice out the stems.

And definitely reserve that shiitake soaking liquid. Because not only can you can slice up the mushrooms and add them to stir fries and the like… or you can also take that soaking liquid and use it just like you would stock.

Braised Shiitake Sauce

• Dried shiitake mushrooms (冬菇), 8

• Lard -or- peanut oil, 2 tbsp.

• Aromatics:

  Ginger (姜), ~1 inch. Smashed.

  Scallions, 1. White and green part separated. White part cut into ~2” sections, green part tied in a knot.

• Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tbsp

• Reserved mushroom soaking liquid, 2 cups

• Sugar, ½ tsp

• Oyster sauce (蚝油), 1.5 tbsp

• Slurry: cornstarch (生粉), ½ tbsp mixed with an equal amount of water.

• Salt, ⅛ tsp. Or to taste.

Process:

Reconstitute the 8 mushrooms together with ~3 cups water. Next day, squeeze out the mushrooms, slice out the stems, reserve two cups worth of the liquid.

Smash the ginger. Separate the white part of the scallion from the green part, cutting the former into sections and tying the latter into a knot.

In a wok over a medium-low flame, fry the ginger and the scallion whites until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Up the flame to high, add in the mushrooms, fry, then swirl in one tablespoon of Shaoxing wine. Add in the soaking liquid, ½ tsp of sugar, 1.5 tbsp of oyster sauce, and the remainder of the scallion greens tied in a knot. Get up to a boil, down to a simmer, and simmer for 45 minutes - covered if in a wok, with the lid ajar if the lid is tight fitting.

After 45 minutes, remove the aromatics. Transfer the mushrooms to a serving plate. You should have about 1 cup of liquid remaining, so thicken with a slurry of ½ tbsp of cornstarch and an equal amount of water. It should be slightly looser than nappe consistency, about as thick as a hot and sour soup. Season with ⅛ tsp salt (or, to taste) and add back with the mushrooms.

To use with noodles: boil some noodles – 60g dried per serving, 100g fresh per serving (recommended: 4 servings), and once cooked rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process. Oil each serving with ~1 tsp melted lard or toasted sesame oil. Top each serving with 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and 3-4 tbsp of shiitake sauce. Mix well. Garnish with scallion greens and serve together with the mushrooms.

To use with vegetables: Boil your vegetable of choice together with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp oil. Serve the mushrooms and the sauce on top.

Chicken and Shiitake Soup

• Dried shiitake mushrooms (冬菇), 3

• Ginger, ~ 1 inch. Smashed.

• White peppercorns (白胡椒), 1/4 tsp. Barely cracked.

• Water, 1.5L

• Reserved mushroom soaking liquid, ~1 cup

• Chicken, half a bird. Cleaved into ~2 inch pieces (you should be able to find this at a Chinese or Asian supermarket).

• Dried red dates (红枣), ~3

• Seasoning:

  Salt, ½ tsp

  Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp

Process:

Reconstitute three dried shiitake mushrooms in with two cups of cool water. Next day, squeeze out the mushrooms, slice out the stems, reserve one cup worth of the liquid.

Smash an inch of ginger, crack (barely crack) ¼ tsp of white peppercorns.

Then, to a pot of 1.5L of cool water, toss in your shiitake soaking liquid, a half a chicken cleaved into two inch pieces, your soaked shiitake mushrooms together with the stems, the ginger, the peppercorns, and three dried red dates. Cover, and let it simmer over a medium low flame for 90 minutes.

Then, after that time, season with a half teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder, or to taste.

Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms

Ingredients for the stuffed mushrooms:

• Dried shiitake mushrooms (冬菇), 8

• Marinade:

  Salt, ¼ tsp

  Sugar, ¼ tsp

  White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ⅛ tsp

  Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tsp

• Pork shoulder, 210g. A.k.a. Boston Butt. Try to aim for as fatty of a cut as you can.

• Binders:

  Salt, ½ tsp

  Egg white, 1

  Ice water, 40g

• Slurry: cornstarch (生粉), ½ tbsp mixed with an equal amount water

• Seasoning:

  Sugar, ¼ tsp

  White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ¼ tsp

  Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ½ tsp

  Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tsp

  Dark soy sauce (老抽), ¼ tsp

• Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1 tsp

• Cornstarch (生粉), ~2 tsp. Or about ~⅛ tsp per shiitake, to coat the shiitakes.

Ingredients for the sauce:

• Lard or peanut oil, 1 tbsp

• Ginger (姜), ~½ inch. Smashed.

• Scallion, ~1 large. White and green parts separated, whites cut into ~2 inch sections, greens sliced.

• Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp

• Reserved mushroom soaking liquid, 1/2 cup

• Seasoning:

  Salt, ¼ tsp

  Sugar, ¼ tsp

  MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp

  White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ⅛ tsp

• Slurry: cornstarch (生粉), 1 tsp mixed with an equal amount of water (plus more if needed)

Process:

To prep:

Reconstitute the 8 mushrooms together with ~3 cups water. Next day, squeeze out the mushrooms, slice out the stems, reserve two cups worth of the liquid.

Marinate the mushrooms with a quarter teaspoon salt, a quarter teaspoon sugar, an eighth teaspoon white pepper powder, and a half teaspoon of soy sauce. Mix well and set aside.

Smash a half an inch of ginger. Separate the white and the green part from one scallion - former cut into two inch sections, the latter roughly sliced.

To make the stuffed shiitakes:

Mince 210g of pork shoulder, either by hand or in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl, and add in a half teaspoon of salt together with one egg white and start stirring.

Our goal here is to develop the myosin in the pork to get something with a bit of spring to it, sorta akin to a sausage. So once that's combined, start to drizzle in forty grams of ice water, going in bit by bit, stirring vigorously as you go. Then after about five or six minutes of mixing, add a slurry of a half tablespoon cornstarch mixed with an equal amount of water… and give that a final couple minutes of stirring.

At this point, 'dat' your mixture by slamming it down against your bowl about ten times or so. Season with a quarter teaspoon sugar, quarter teaspoon white pepper powder, half teaspoon liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine, half teaspoon soy sauce, quarter teaspoon dark soy sauce for color… and stir that all up again. Add a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil to coat the mixture.

To help the filling stick, sprinkle about an eighth teaspoon of cornstarch over each shiitake and rub it in, making sure to get all those ridges. Add about a tablespoon of your filling onto the mushrooms, smoothing things out to get something attractive and meatball-looking.

Toss on a plate, cover, and steam for five minutes over a high flame.

To make the final sauce:

Then, for the sauce, fry up the ginger and scallion whites in with about a teaspoon of lard (or oil) over a medium low flame until fragrant, ~30 seconds.

Then, swirl in a teaspoon of soy sauce together with a half cup of your shiitake soaking liquid. Once combined, remove the aromatics and season it with a quarter teaspoon salt, a quarter teaspoon sugar, an eighth teaspoon MSG, and an eighth teaspoon white pepper powder. Drizzle in a slurry of a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with a bit of water.

Drizzle the sauce over the steamed stuffed shiitakes. Sprinkle over a bit of the scallion greens for garnish.