better,” she says. “But it's not. You get different flavors from certain dried and canned things.”, Button has a mushroom dish that customers swoon over for its intense flavor—it's unlike anything they’ve had before, some say. “There’s a reason for that,” she says. The dish is finished with an incredibly labor-intensive mushroom stock that reduces for hours.
She claims the rich, earthy, umami flavor is exponentially more concentrated through the dehydration of dried mushrooms. “They're reduced down to their perfect mushroom essence, so you get that back out in a really big way,” she says. Add only a few to a dish, and you ease in a bit more depth. But added by the handful? You “pack a big umami punch.” Dried mushrooms bring big earthy flavor to vegan dishes, too, making them a fast-flavoring ingredient you’ll want to have on hand, all the time.
Dried mushrooms last indefinitely if stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. How can you tell if they’re bad? “If you smell them and they just don't smell like anything,” she says. “They're never going to ‘poison.’ They're never going to spoil. They're just going to lose their flavor over time.” If they’ve faded, add more to your application.“You're kind of stuck with whatever brand the store is buying,” Button says of sourcing dried mushrooms.
To create Curate’s beloved side dish, sauté mushrooms, add a touch of the mushroom stock, reduce until dry, then add a splash of wine. “I love Sherry and mushrooms together, because they're a match made in heaven,” Buttons says. “But white wine works, too.”
Always in my pantry