The Late Night Gourmet
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- Joined
- 30 Mar 2017
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- Detroit, USA
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- absolute0cooking.com
I wanted to make this taste as much as possible like beef. I think I came pretty close. But, just using a Portobello mushroom in place of a beef patty wasn’t enough for me. I used the same marinade for the button mushrooms that I loaded on top. There might just be enough mushrooms for me in this recipe, though I'd be happier with a bun made with chunks of mushroom in it. Maybe next time.
Just about every recipe for grilled Portobello mushrooms called for balsamic vinegar as part of the marinade. While I'm sure the flavor would have been very nice, I really wanted to make this as much like a hamburger as possible. Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce enhanced the savory elements, but I decided that the key was smoked paprika. This wonderful seasoning is usually lost in the flavors of most recipes. Here, it was the difference-maker.
I was surprised by how little moisture was released from the mushroom caps. Whenever I sauté mushrooms or reduce them down when making soup, they are swimming in their own juices after a few minutes on the heat. But, the mushroom caps had less liquid than that (and much less than the fat released from a beef patty).
Finally, had I planned better, I would have bought Swiss cheese. But, I happened to have muenster, and it worked beautifully. With this much mushroom, it's hard to go wrong, but it does need cheese to complete the effect.
Marinade Ingredients
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oil (I used a garlic-infused oil I made previously)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Burger Ingredients
2 Portobello mushrooms
4 ounces mushrooms (any kind), sliced
2 hamburger buns
2 ounces muenster cheese
Directions
1. Whisk together marinade ingredients in a shallow bowl. Trim Portobello mushroom stems to create a relatively flat surface on the gill side. Brush both sides of the mushroom caps with the marinade. Over the next 20 minutes, reapply marinade to both sides of the mushroom caps periodically.
2. Place Portobello mushroom caps in a grill pan on medium heat. After 5 minutes, flip the mushroom caps over.
3. Toss the sliced mushroom bits in the remaining marinade. Sauté in a corner of the pan away from the mushroom caps.
4. Place cheese slices on top of the mushroom caps. Heat long enough to make the cheese melt. The mushroom caps should be cooked for about 5 minutes on each side, but no harm is done by cooking them a bit longer or shorter than that.
5. Toast hamburger buns. Pat dry mushroom caps with a paper towel to prevent the bun from getting soggy. Assemble the burgers by placing sautéed mushrooms on top of the cheese-covered mushroom caps.
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