I give up.

[gbhunter]

I made a mushroom sauce. The contents are:

1 C heavy Cream
3 TBSP of Chopped shallots
1 1/2 C porcini mushrooms and Morels (mixed)
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp. of cornstarch
2 TBSP of butter
Salt and pepper.

I re-hydrated the mushrooms in warm water washed the sand and twigs out then I put them in a small saucepan with the melted butter and shallots, heated the mixture up and added the bay leaf. Then when the mixture was warm for a few minutes I added the warmed cream, corn starch salt and pepper, brought it to just short of a boil and stir and serve.

Well according to my wife all that she could taste is mushrooms and cream.
I’m not a very good judge since I cooked it. I thought it tasted pretty good. I was not able to taste the bay at all. The shallots were really in the background really. I’m not sure if it’s the sauce or my wife LOL.
Any chefs or cooks see anything wrong here?

[cape chef]

Sounds nice,

Just a couple observations.

I would first sweat the shallots over medium heat to bring out their inherent sweetness,then I would raise the heat and sauté the shrooms until they give off all their moisture and become au sec. I would then add the soaking water (well strained) with a splash of white wine and reduce by half with the bay and S&P.Then add your tempered cream and reduce again (you really don't need the cornstarch for a good redux, but if you want to use it make a slurry with equal amounts of starch and wine and add it slowly at the end until it napes a spoon. How did you serve it? And your on the right track.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by cape chef

Sounds nice,


sauté the shrooms until they give off all their moisture and become au sec.

Au sec = "almost dry"

[chinds85]

At the Blue Door cafe' our executive chef Shanta was having similar problems with a beef stew special. It had a high content of mushrooms, and their favlor overpowered everything else in the dish. Here were the ingredients:

bacon (fried and crisp)
purple onion
flower
cubed ribeye
shitake, white, and morel mushrooms
salt
pepper
bay leaf
thyme

With a red wine base, when I first tasted it I was not pleased at all. All I tasted was red wine and mushrooms (which would have been fine if it was Chicken Marsala). We solved the problem by adding a bit more cracked black pepper, a lot more thyme, and a couple more bay leaves. These additions helped balance out the mushroom taste.

My advice would be to add more bay leaf and sweat your shallots to bring out their flavor a bit more.

[redace1960]

use half and half and scald it first to get rid of the raw cream flavor. i find heavy cream blots out flavors. also try thickening with fine white bread crumbs instead of the cornstarch.

[ichefdiane]

Cornstarch tends to coat the tongue which blocks some flavors. Not needed if using cream - which also has a coating effect on the taste buds.

[MarkV]

I totally agree with Cape Chef. Adding the mushroom soaking water with the wine adds flavor, first from the liquid itself and second from de-glazing the pan. I also agree that the cornstarch is unnecessary but if you are going to use it, definitely make a slurry of equal parts cornstarch and liquid and add it at the end.

Mark