Sautéed Morel Mushrooms

This recipe for Pan-Fried Morel Mushrooms is the best you'll find for preparing morels. Morels cooked in butter after being cleaned, dredged in seasoned flour, and pan-fried until golden and crispy. Nothing compares to it. Before going out on a foraging trip or preparing a meal involving morel mushrooms, please familiarize yourself with them. It is imperative that you never eat a mushroom unless you know for sure that it is safe to eat.

It's so overwhelming that I don't know where to start. Morels are the most prestigious mushroom variety. As a result, they must be found in the wild, where they sprout atop specific species of dying trees. Foragers have a brief window of opportunity in the spring to harvest morels. But if you do, consider yourself lucky.

Pat and his best friend and hunting partner of many years, Craig, have been on the lookout for morels for a while now. When Pat brought me home some morel mushrooms they'd foraged from a secret location, I put my plans on hold while I researched the best way to clean and prepare them.

In a moment, I'll describe how to clean morels, and then I'll share the conclusion of my Google search: one of the best and most delicious ways to cook them is by pan frying in a skillet of butter. Crispy and golden brown morels can be made with just a dredge in flour and seasonings and a pan of hot, bubbling butter. Sign Me Up

So, if you're thinking about deep-frying or sautéing morels but haven't done your homework, you should. Although I do not consider myself an expert on the subject of mushrooms, I have relied heavily on the knowledge of my husband, who has done a great deal of research and watched many videos on the subject, as well as my own observations, in writing this post. Please read this post thoroughly as it contains important information and advice for finding, preparing, and cooking morel mushrooms.

Make these pan-fried morel mushrooms the next time you catch a bag of them. You will be relieved that you did.

There Is Much You Should Know About Morel Mushrooms, Including the Following:

The first thing you need to know about morels is that there are some that are extremely poisonous and should NOT be eaten in any form. These are called "false morels." The best mushrooms to pick are the ones where the cap is still attached to the stem (the stem and cap are one and the same) and are hollow on the inside.

If a mushroom looks like a morel but contains fibrous material, you should avoid eating it. In order to tell a fake morel from a real one, you should either do your homework or buy your morels from a reputable source. However, you should also avoid eating raw morels because they contain toxins that must be cooked out before consumption.

In order to clean my morels, I followed this procedure:

Disinfection is also crucial. The mushroom's soft, honeycomb cap is full of tiny crevices, perfect for hiding insects of all sizes. If you're used to cleaning white button or cremini mushrooms with a rinse or a wipe of damp paper towel, please believe me when I say that this will not suffice for portobello mushrooms.

At first, put some salt (I used fine sea salt) in a big bowl and fill it halfway to three-quarters full with warm water, not hot water, depending on how many mushrooms you have. Mix in the morels, then press down several layers of paper towels to fully submerge them. Morels can have any dirt or bugs washed off of them by holding them under running water, which the paper towel will facilitate.

Prepare the mushrooms by soaking them in cold water for two hours up to an entire night in the refrigerator. Now and then I give the mushrooms a little shake to see if anything has changed. Don't be alarmed (or grossed out) if you see a few bugs swimming around in your bowl or settling to the bottom. That's perfectly typical, though.

Because morels are a naturally occurring part of the forest environment, they may attract insects.

After the mushrooms soak, I transfer them to a bowl lined with paper towels to drain any excess liquid.

Do the same thing you did before, except in a fresh bowl of salt water. The morels should be halved lengthwise and added to the water after being handled with care. Repeat the process of layering paper towels on top and pressing them down to submerge the liquid. The morel mushroom halves need to soak for an additional hour or two. The dirt and bugs that didn't come out in the first soak will be washed away in this second soak, making it essential.

The general consensus is that a single soaking session is sufficient, but considering how important mental health is to daily life, soaking twice is probably a good idea.

You'll need the following ingredients to make pan-fried morels:

• morels
• white flour that hasn't been bleached
• the dry form of garlic
• The spicing of onions
• A jar of kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• paprika

The dredging recipe is a fairly straightforward one. You'll need 1 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper for 1 to 2 pounds of morels. To make dredging and cleanup simpler, I put the ingredients in a gallon-sized resealable bag.

If you are looking to spice things up a bit, you can also try one of the seasoning mixes on this list.

5-6 morels should be added to the flour mixture. Close the bag again and shake it gently to coat the mushrooms. Shake the excess off, kind of like rolling dice, or gently tapping them on the inside of the bag Then place the floured morels onto a rimmed sheet pan and repeat with the remaining mushrooms

Then, in a stainless steel frying pan with high sides, melt 1 stick of high-quality butter over medium heat. A few morels at a time, with the cut sides down, can be added to the hot butter in the pan. To achieve a golden brown color, cook for 6–7 minutes (time will vary depending on size). Pan-fry the morel mushrooms for 5–6 minutes before turning them over with a fork or small spatula.

Keep a close eye on the remaining batches; cooking time may decrease.

Once the morels have reached the desired level of crispiness, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.

To spice things up a bit, I dusted them with paprika and paired them with some frosty brews. Absolutely delicious and highly addictive, these mushrooms are.

The flavor and texture of morel mushrooms cooked in a pan remind me of that of battered and deep-fried chicken, which is why I enjoy them so much.

My eldest child, upon entering the house after school, mistook the aroma for chicken nuggets before learning that I had prepared morels for dinner. This means that They didn't taste particularly mushroomy to me. And I think that even people who don't like mushrooms would like morel mushrooms cooked in a pan.

If you ever come across morels, I highly recommend trying these pan-fried morel mushrooms. I'm confident that you'll enjoy them just as much as we do because of how delicious they are.

Enjoy Morel mushroom recipe with pan-frying; report back to me if you do! Take a picture and include me in the caption on Twitter or Instagram.