“Mushrooms are basically living sponges Don’t get ’em wet, or they’ll get soggy and you’ll never cook them right.” Those same people will recommend that you clean mushrooms by brushing them with a special mushroom brush (oh, please), or maybe with a damp paper towel No wonder people don’t like mushrooms—they’re a pain in the butt to clean! But is this level of fear really necessary? I tested out this theory by cooking a few batches of mushrooms side by side One I cleaned meticulously with a damp paper towel Another I cleaned under the tap and shook dry in a strainer The last I cleaned under the tap and spun-dry in a salad spinner I weighed all the batches before cooking and found that—hey, what you know?—the washedthen-drained mushrooms gained only about percent of their weight in water, while the washedthen-spun mushrooms gained about 1 percent That’s about 1½ teaspoons of water per pound, which in turn translates to an extra 15 to 30 seconds of cooking time What does this mean? It means that most of the water you add by washing mushrooms clings only to the surface So long as you dry your mushrooms carefully before cooking, you can rinse them as much as you’d like Cooking the spin-dried mushrooms side by side with the paper-toweled mushrooms confirmed this: they both cooked at exactly the same rate KNIFE SKILLS: Slicing Mushrooms Button and Cremini Mushrooms White button and cremini mushrooms can be prepared the same way Start by trimming off the bottoms of the stems, which can be woody or tough, and discard Then hold each mushroom flat against the cutting board, with the stem side down, and cut into quarters for roasting or slice into thin strips for sautéing Portobello Mushrooms ... White button and cremini mushrooms can be prepared the same way Start by trimming off the bottoms of the stems, which can be woody or tough, and discard Then hold each mushroom flat against the cutting board, with the stem side down, and cut into quarters for roasting or slice