A historical survey of Italian regional pasta reveals a rich tradition of makers using available ingredients. In her Translator’s Preface to the Encyclopedia of Pasta, Maureen B. Fant writes: “If [an entry’s ingredient] seems vague or ambiguous, it is because people used what they could lay hands on.”
Today, inside and outside of Italy, what people can lay hands on has dramatically changed. I increasingly reach for Japanese culinary powders and stocks when making pasta sauces. If you taste a plate of pasta made with one or more of these ingredients, I doubt you could pick out a Japanese essence. These ingredients blend in to support and enhance other flavors. Over the course of 2019, I will examine a few of these ingredients. First up: Shiitake mushroom powder.
The recipe that I use to make this savory-inducing powder comes from The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook by Danny Bowien and Chris Ying (Ecco, 2015). Bowien writes: “This is the gentleman’s MSG. It’s umami incarnate, in powdered form.”
I first made the powder about three years ago. It looks a little like a soup mix one finds in a package of dried ramen. One night, on a lark, I added a tablespoon or so to some water while braising artichokes for a pasta sauce. The sauce boasted a delicious rich flavor. I now use shiitake mushroom powder not only when making pasta sauces, but also as a seasoning when cooking other Italian (and non-Italian) foods.
You can find commercial mushroom powder at Asian markets and online, but making it at home takes almost no work at all, especially if you purchase dried shiitake mushrooms. Here’s Bowien’s recipe, which makes about ½ cup of powder.
1 (1-inch) square dashi kombu
½ ounce stemmed, dried shiitake mushrooms
1. Use a pair of kitchen shears to snip the kombu into 4 or 5 smaller pieces, then grind it to a fine powder in a spice or coffee grinder or blender. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Grind the mushrooms to a powder and combine with kombu. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Like ground spices, this begins to lose its potency immediately.
Plenty of on-line sources sell dashi kombu (aka konbu) if you cannot find it in a nearby market. If you want to splurge, The Japanese Pantry, an on-line business located in San Francisco, sells outstanding ma konbu as well as other high-quality Japanese food products.
If you own a dehydrator, you can dry your own mushrooms in about 18 to 24 hours. I start with approximately 33 to 35 small- to medium-sized fresh shiitake mushrooms. Wipe the mushroom caps clean with a damp towel and remove the stems, which often twist off where the stem meets the cap. Dehydrate the mushroom caps at 120°F/48°C until completely dry. I let the dehydrator run 24 hours then weigh out 14 grams of dried mushrooms to make the powder. A small Krups spice grinder makes quick work of pulverizing the kombu and dried mushrooms.
Bowien calls for shiitake mushroom powder in a lot of the recipes in The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook: Mapo Tofu; Kung Pao Pastrami; Thrice-cooked Bacon; Broccoli Beef; Catfish à la Sichuan; Pork Jowl and Radishes. I can go on (but won’t). Point being: The powder makes a range of different types of food taste better.
My delight with shiitake mushroom powder lead me to make Porcini Spice Powder from State Bird Provisions (Ten Speed Press, 2017) by Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski. I found their mushroom powder interesting, but trickier to employ because it contains allspice berries and sugar.
I now use shiitake mushroom powder whenever I make my favorite artichoke pasta sauce, which recipe I will post. But first, I need to introduce another Japanese ingredient that has recently permeated my Italian cooking: Rice koji stock (here).
