2lbWild mushrooms, such as chicken of the woods or chanterelles
2Tunsalted butter (you can use oil but you may want to freeze it in an ice cube tray to ensure a good, solid seal).
Fresh herbs, especially thyme or bay leaves optional
Instructions
Clean your mushrooms well.
Basic method
Put the mushrooms into a large pan with ½ cup of water, butter or oil and salt. Cook the mushrooms, covered, until they're wilted and completely cooked. Cool the mushrooms, then transfer to a zip-loc bag and freeze.
For the best result, put multiple bags of cooked mushrooms in a resealable vacuum bag for easy portioning and removal.
Sous vide method
Season the mushrooms with salt, then put into the vacuum bag with the herbs and butter.
Cook the mushrooms at 165F for 2 hours or until completely cooked using the sous vide machine.
Immediately cool the mushroom bag in cold water, then dry the bag off and freeze.
Notes
Freezing mushrooms raw
Some mushrooms can be frozen raw and keep a decent texture, such as hen of the woods and matsutake. If possible, pull the mushrooms apart into pieces and cook directly from frozen.