Portobello Mushroom Baked Eggs Recipe - 3 Ways - My Kitchen Love (2024)

FAQs

What does portobello mean? ›

por·​ta·​bel·​la ˌpȯr-tə-ˈbe-lə variants or portabello. less common variants of portobello. : a large dark mature cultivated mushroom noted for its meaty texture that is of the same variety of button mushroom as the cremini.

Portobello mushrooms are cooked when they become tender and juicy. You can test their doneness by piercing them with a fork. If the fork easily goes through the mushroom, they are ready to be removed from the stove.

When cooked down, the gills release their spores, giving your dish a dark and murky appearance and obscuring other, more vibrant ingredients. This may not seem significant, but we eat with our eyes first—a dull looking dish can prime our palates to expect dulled flavors.

Should I peel portobello mushrooms? Some people like to peel the top skin of the portobello mushroom to expose the white flesh underneath. However, you don't need to peel portobello mushrooms unless you're trying to remove a part of the skin that's either damaged or bruised.

Portobello mushrooms are known as Portobello, Portabello, and Portabella, and it is generally accepted that any of these spellings are correct. The vast number of spellings is attributed to the fact that Portobello was a name selected as a part of a marketing rebranding of the mushrooms in the 1980s.

THEY ARE LITERALLY THE SAME TYPE OF MUSHROOM. They are all Agaricus bisporus, in fact, just different ages: button mushrooms, which are white, are the toddlers; cremini mushrooms, which are brown, are the teenagers; and portobellos, which are brown and much larger versions of their younger selves, are the adults.

The Portabello mushroom is of Italian origin and gets its namesake from Portobello, a town in Italy. The first documented cultivation of Agricus bisporus was made by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707.

It comes from the name of a house, called Portobello Hut, which had been built in 1742 by a sailor called George Hamilton. He had been involved in the Battle of Puerto Bello in Panama in 1739, in which six British warships attacked the port, which had been used by the Spanish as a base to harass British shipping.

Cremini mushrooms (also referred to as cremino, common brown, and Roman), are commonly marketed as “baby bella” or “baby portobello” mushrooms because they are just that — a juvenile portobello mushroom.

Mushroom gills are totally edible, but in some cases, they make a dish unsightly. Thankfully, removing them is pretty simple. Most recipes that call for mushrooms don't require that you remove the gills on the underside of the caps.

Should you always remove the gills from a portobello mushroom? ›

The gills are usually the first part of the cap to go, so removing them can actually extend the shelf life quite a bit—up to a week or more. Finally, mushrooms are extremely porous, so if you do decide to marinate them, it's best not to marinate for too long or they'll suck up more juice than they can handle.

Portobello Mushroom gills can also alter the flavor of the dish. Fine Cooking advises that the gills in the Portobello Mushroom cap be removed because the gills are bitter and can hide other, potentially better flavors in the dish.

How to Clean and Prep Portobello Mushrooms. The stems of large portabella, while technically edible, can be woody and fibrous and are usually discarded (or used to flavor stock). Likewise, the dark black gills can be eaten, but they'll turn your food a nasty, murky, scuzzy brown, so it's best to scrape'em out.

According to the Foodies Family, all parts of the Portobello Mushroom are safe to eat, and most recipes do not require the removal of the gills found in the Portobello Mushroom cap.

Place the cremini skewers on the grill, or set the portobellos on the grill, gill side up. Cook each until the mushrooms are charred on the first side, then flip the mushrooms. They're ready when they're tender, juicy, and charred on both sides.