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Ryzhiks are very beautiful and interesting mushrooms that are difficult to confuse with any others, especially since they do not have inedible "doubles". At the break, they have a milky sap of a reddish or orange hue, depending on the variety. This is one of its distinguishing characteristics. Despite belonging to the lamellar group, mushrooms are one of the few, along with porcini and mushrooms, according to their nutritional value, to edible mushrooms of the first category. To cook mushrooms or not - each housewife decides for herself, since you can eat them in almost any form.
Do I need to cook mushrooms
Of course, due to the current ecological situation, it is highly discouraged to eat raw mushrooms. Even if we are talking about such tasty and safe representatives of this family as mushrooms. Moreover, boiling mushrooms is not difficult. But unlike many so-called conditionally edible mushrooms, which require soaking or mandatory boiling before direct cooking, they can be prepared immediately after collection and mechanical cleaning from adhering forest debris.
Mushrooms are versatile in preparation: they are boiled, fried, stewed, baked, and, of course, salted and pickled.
Indeed, very young mushrooms, collected in ecologically safe places, are allowed to be eaten after salting and insisting for several hours in a cool place.
But if there is even the slightest doubt about the quality of the mushrooms or the place of their collection, then it will be much safer to boil them before any further culinary processing. If you want to get a more delicate taste and consistency, then the mushrooms can be boiled before frying or pickling.
True, these mushrooms are salted only raw. This is the only way to get a special taste and extraordinary crunchiness of the finished dish.
It should be noted that these mushrooms have a unique taste in any form. And if, for dietary reasons, fried foods are contraindicated for someone, then the usual boiling of saffron milk caps can help prepare an amazingly tasty snack or even a festive dish from them.
How to cook mushrooms
Cooking mushrooms is not at all difficult, moreover, this procedure does not require strict adherence to any specific rules, as is the case with some other mushrooms, for example, the same milk mushrooms.
Of course, the mushrooms brought from the forest must, first of all, be cleaned of debris, adhering leaves, and fruit bodies that are too old or damaged by mold must be removed. Ryzhiks quite rarely turn out to be wormy, however, this fact should not be overlooked. You should check the mushrooms for the presence of foreign animals in them. The damaged areas are cut out with a sharp knife.
Then the cleaned fruit bodies are poured over with cold water and placed on moderate heat. After boiling, it is necessary to regularly remove the foam that appears from the surface.
If the amount of mushrooms harvested is not very large, then you can do it differently. First, bring the water in a saucepan to a boil, and then boil them in boiling water. This will help them keep their shape better.
Salt is usually added at the very end of the boil. It is allowed to boil these mushrooms without adding salt at all.
As soon as the mushrooms are recognized as ready, the water is drained, and the mushrooms themselves are placed in a colander to drain off excess liquid.
Is it possible to cook mushrooms with other mushrooms
Sometimes from the forest you can bring a bountiful harvest of a wide variety of mushrooms, including camelina.
Since the latter do not require any special conditions for heat treatment, it is quite possible to cook them in one common pot along with all the mushrooms.
They should not be combined during cooking only with conditionally edible mushrooms, which are boiled to remove bitterness, for example, with milk mushrooms, with ryadovki, with little waves, with talkers and others. Since the bitterness during boiling can go to mushrooms.
How much to cook mushrooms mushrooms
The boiling time of mushrooms is of no particular fundamental importance. If you have to cook them before marinating, then frying or freezing, then it is enough to leave them in a saucepan after boiling water for 10 minutes.
If mushrooms are boiled to prepare a dish from them in the future, then you can hold them in boiling water for a longer time, in the region of 15-25 minutes. If the mushrooms were picked in a dubious place, and there is a possibility that they will even taste bitter, although this is very rare, then it is better to increase the cooking time.
What can be done with boiled mushrooms
Boiled mushrooms themselves are already a ready-made dish that you can feast on, seasoning it with sour cream or mayonnaise and adding it to any side dish or simply eating them with bread.
They can be easily pickled with vinegar, citric acid and spices.
Many people prefer to cook mushrooms for subsequent frying with the addition of potatoes, other various vegetables or cereals. In this case, they become more delicate in consistency. And the frying time can be slightly reduced by making the finished product more dietary.
To preserve a large number of saffron milk caps for the winter, after boiling, they can be frozen by distributing them in portioned bags. In this case, the mushrooms are almost ready to eat at any time after defrosting. Moreover, for the preparation of some dishes they can be used without even defrosting. And the juice from thawed boiled mushrooms is quite suitable for making sauce or gravy.
Finally, boiled mushrooms can be used to make a dish according to any of the following recipes:
- filling for pies, pies, pizza or dumplings;
- minced meat for zraz, meatballs or cutlets;
- mushroom caviar, including those harvested for the winter;
- sauce or seasoning for side dishes;
- cold or hot salads with vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, seafood.
Conclusion
In order to cook mushrooms, no special culinary skills are required. This operation is not even necessary, as is the case with many other mushrooms. But boiled mushrooms can be useful for making many delicious dishes, and for long-term storage in the freezer in winter.
