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Ingredient Information
Porcini Dust
I have to give my chef friend John Pearson the credit for this idea. Simply purchase dried porcini mushrooms and grind them up into dust. I use the mini chopper that came with my stick blender, and it takes only a few seconds. Do be careful not to overfill the mini chopper—I did once and the motor on the stick blender overloaded and burned up.
I purchase my mushrooms in the bulk bin. When you look at the price, try not to give in to the sticker shock. Usually dried porcinis are about $35.00 per pound. That’s about $3.00 per ounce and one ounce of dried mushrooms makes 1/4 cup of porcini dust (4 tablespoons). Four tablespoons will go a long way, as it usually takes only about a tablespoon or so to enrich enough pasta, risotto, or a sauce for four servings.
This works well with any dried mushrooms, but I feel that porcinis have a true mushroom flavor.