Shiitake Mushrooms!

Shiitake mushrooms is a very common ingredient in Asian cuisine and it's now widely used in all types of cuisines.

All fresh mushrooms are to be either brushed to clean or gently rinsed with water but should never be soaked or the fragrance and flavor will be drained and lost. Once when it's rinsed, it should be used in cooking right away.

Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

Dried Shiitake

Dried shiitake mushrooms have all the umami flavor of the fresh counterparts and the umami is more intense because of lack of the water content. It is a very important flavoring ingredient in Asian fine food cooking and the water used to soak and rehydrate the mushrooms are to be kept and used too.

To use dried shiitake mushrooms, rinse them shortly to remove the dirts and soak them in cold water to rehydrate. Since the water would have serious flavor and should be used later, I usually barely cover the dried shiitake with just enough water. This way, I won't end up with too much water to dilute the flavor and water down the dish.

How to Use

Soaked Shiitake

For small and thin dried shiitakes, they could be softened and rehydrated in 1-2 hours. If you have those gorgeous, thick-cap, deep-crack-fissure, hana (means flower in Japanese) shiitakes, they could take up to 8 hours or overnight to be fully rehydrated. You have to check in on them in the beginning since they float on top of the water. You could either use something to push them down or keep flipping them so all sides have a chance to get wet and be soaked. You should keep them in the refrigerator if you are to soak them overnight or longer.

If you are pressed for time, you can soak them in hot water but this will leach much of the great flavor into the soaking water. I've always managed my time to soak them early enough in cold water.

Another trick to speed up the soaking process is to snap and separate the stem and the cap before getting them wet. The stem is tougher and more woody so it takes longer to soak it. Don't throw the stems away. You could cut the stems into thinner, smaller pieces after soaking, or keep it to cook stock later.

After they are fully soaked and softened, remove them from water with hand and gently squeeze the excess water out. Then slice them or dice them, depending on what your recipe requires.

How to Store

Though dried shiitake doesn't have to be refrigerated and they last a very long time when kept in dry condition, they do get moldy if you live in very damp and humid areas. You should keep them in the refrigerator or freezer in this case.

Where to Buy

If you decide to add dried shiitake to your pantry, don't buy the pre-sliced, small package from just any market as those are of less quality and more expensive by weight. It would worth your while to take a trip to the Asian supermarket for better deals and buy them in the uncut whole mushroom form. Since this is a common ingredients, the Asian market usually have one of the brands on sale. Even if you can't afford the top-tier best-grade ones, you could still be very pleasantly surprised by what the the small, thin dried shiitake could offer to boost your dish.

In the Asian market, they are usually displayed with herbs, spices or dried beans. The deals are placed at the end caps of aisles.

I have never tried online purchase but if you cannot find it in your neighborhood, that would be something worth trying.

Substitute Fresh Shiitake for Dried Ones?

The tastes of the dishes won't be the same if you replace one for the other and especially in dishes that call for dense meaty flavor, you will need the dried ones. However, in most cases of the clear soups, using the fresh shiitake is okay and could be delightful and refreshing.