Friday, April 20, 2012

How to “Turn” a Mushroom – An Earth Day Weekend Special!

I’ve really never gotten that excited about Earth Day, and this year is no different. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a huge fan of the planet (especially love the gravity), so on Sunday, April 22, I will be giving thanks to Mother Nature, as well as all the heroes who fight the good fight to keep her happy and healthy.

However, for an old food blogger like me, a “holiday” like Earth Day is more about key words and search engines than seabirds and algae. And of course, if you’re going to do a tie-in for Earth Day, you can’t get any “earthier” than mushrooms.

This video for how to turn a mushroom represents another classic technique I learned in culinary school, which was really never applied in a restaurant. Along with things like aspic and ice carving, turning mushrooms is one of the things that chef instructors LOVE to teach. Not to impart vital skills to their students, but to simply show-off…and that’s exactly why I’m showing you. Enjoy!

17 comments:

KitchenWitch said...

Hey Chef John!

I love this "useless" knife skill. It occurs to me that turned mushrooms would be a lovely addition to homemade giardinera. Something else with which I can experiment.

Keep on cooking! I love your recipes. Thanks-

Meredydd

Chris K. said...

Nice technique! If I nail it down people will think I'm a fun guy.

Chef John said...

I wouldn't go that far. ;)

Daniel said...

I just love this site, it make my day - everyday - thank you. I have to see 3-4 clips, even if i seen them before :) John, what you think about the Swedish cusine??

Anonymous said...

Doesn't this technique increase the surface area of the mushroom so that a sauce will stick more plentifully to it ?

So not useless at all .

Um ,

possibly .

Alicia A said...

You made a vegetarian pork bun !

Eve said...

You are Super Fun! LOL, Never seen the mushroom being carved this way in my whole life, not to mention, ON the VIDEO clip!! LOL!!! BUT, NOW, I wanna try it!! lol ;-)

Rita said...

that will go well with the "flower carrots" that i make. thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you!! I've wanted to learn how to do this for 50 years. I don't know why. I saw them in OLD cook books with strange instructions that made no sense to me.
You're my hero.
Yes, yesterday was my 70th birthday.

Chef John said...

Awesome! Happy Birthday!!

CJ - Food Stories said...

Great Knife skills ... Happy Earth Day!

Jonathan in Gimpo said...

They look really cool when you sauteed them! Chef John, I love your tips and techniques videos, they're awesome, and so are you.

Terrible, terrible punster said...

I would try this out, but unfortunately, I don't have very mush room in my kitchen.

jp 吉平 said...

i don't have a pun, but my mushrooms did not look very good. practice practice practice!

Anonymous said...

it funny but they kinda look like a soup dumpling or a steam chinese bun...actually though you were made a a video of how to do that...lol

Still love the video >w<

Anonymous said...

it funny but they kinda look like a soup dumpling or a steam chinese bun...actually though you were made a a video of how to do that...lol

Still love the video >w<

Unknown said...

:D it looks awesome!