Friday, January 28, 2011

Mushroom Ketchup

Where? Where? I don't see any mushroom ketchup!

Well, that's because it's ugly. It's there hiding behind the beautifully cooked tofu slices, next to the fresh arugula and sliced tomato. Look closely...there you go. It looks like mashed black beans...or maybe even mud. The taste, however, is a whole different story. It's wonderfully rich, sweet, smooth, and tangy. The closest thing to the flavor would be worcestershire sauce; these two do share several ingredients like shallots, garlic, sugar, and vinegar.

The mushrooms in this recipe add a whole new layer of savory-ness to some of the foods you already love: sandwiches, soups, chili, fries, and burgers.

I first heard of mushroom ketchup from Burt Wolf. (You can read the script from his show on the tomato HERE.) I became fascinated with the idea mushroom sauce, so I began looking up recipes. I adopted bits of the recipes from here and there and came up with this:

Mushroom Ketchup

16 ounces mushrooms (I used button, but you could use any kind)
1 tablespoon porcini salt
1 large shallot
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 teaspoons sugar
1 cup water
1 bay leaf

Toss the mushrooms and salt together in a bowl. Cover with a towel and set aside for 24 hours. Mushrooms will release most of their water and turn dark. Add the mushrooms (liquid and all) and the remaining ingredients -- save for the bay leaf -- to a food processor and blend until the mixture appears to be liquified. Cover and simmer mixture and bay leaf for one hour. Remove bay and then return cooled mixture to the food processor and blend until completely smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. (This will keep up to two weeks in the fridge.)

14 comments:

Raw_Girl said...

Call me blind but I cant see any tofu in your pix :)

How many types of vinegar are there?! I just got around to balsamic a while ago and now there's CHAMPAGNE?! Seems like a must have with such a name,,..

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

My favs are champagne, balsamic, white balsamic, rice wine, sherry, unfiltered white, and apple cider.

Vinegar adds brightness, acidity, and flavor to every savory dish.

Navin said...

Sounds yummy.... will have to try making it. If you're into interesting ketchups, there is a Belgian brand (Zeisner) that makes curry ketchup. It provides quite a kick! You can probably add curry powder at home, but the bottled one is awesome. Just thought I'd share :)

Anonymous said...

This confirms my long standing belief that any meal is improved with a healthy serving of KETCHUP!!

JW Productions Catering said...

That sounds awesome. My son's love mushrooms so maybe I will suprise them. Thanks so much for shating

Mrs.JSmith said...

Hey! Do you have a recipe for Sloppy Joe minus the meat?

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

http://chubbyvegetarian.blogspot.com/2010/04/vegan-sloppy-joes-jaime-olivers-food.html


YES. We heart sloppy joe!

Unknown said...

Mushroom ketchup, excellent idea. I have just started playing with condiments. I'd like to try this one.

Liz said...

What is porcini salt? And where do you get it?

I THINK you talked about a dried mushroom powder (porcini, I believe)in another post but I can't recall which one. Is porcini salt just dried porcini powder with salt added? Care to provide a link?

Lakshmi said...

After the mushrooms have been left for 24 hours, do they smell awful???

Lakshmi said...

After the mushrooms have been left overnight with salt, do they smell awful?

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

Earthy, yes, but not disgusting or awful.

Lakshmi said...

Oh okay, thanks a lot for the reply. Kind of not familiar with mushrooms and doing it for the first time. That's why I had that doubt. But thanks a lot for the quick reply.

The Cirielman said...

Looks delicious