What do you use Duxelle for?

[Hank Hanover]

Duxelle is a chopped mushroom dish. It is fairly common in french cuisine.

Here is a link to a recipe for it. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/em...

In this recipe, Emeril stuffs a quail with it.

My question is what else can you do with it?

The quickest thing that comes to my mind is a ravioli stuffing.

[jfood]

jfood uses a duxelle of several pounds of mushrooms for his short ribs braise. he removes all the liquid from the mushrooms through the heating process and adds to the braise for the last hour. It adds a great earthiness to the dish.

[Hank Hanover]

I would think you could use this duxelles in omelets or even scrambled eggs. You could even put it in meatloaf.

[Caroline1]

Mushrooms are possibly the most versatile, yet underappreciated, foods on the planet. They DO come in more flavors than "button!" One of my favorite foods in the world is a mushroom soup in which I saute a shallot or two in butter, add a flock of sliced or diced mushrooms, cook until moderately tender, add stock and boil about twenty minutes or so, then turn them to cream in the blender. Add a touch of fortified wine -- sherry, port, vermouth -- and drink up! Fantastic! But I get markedly different flavor results by manipulating the mushrooms and combinations of mushrooms I use. The absolute same holds true for a duxelles. If you want a fantastic vegetarian pate, dice the mushrooms for a duxelles fine and cook loooooong and slooooow, then season with herbs a booze and lots of butter (fat is what makes a pate firm when cool) and no one will miss the animal protein! I am amazed when people write that duxelles doesn't have much flavor. Somebody is doing something wrong. Unless that's the result you want. There is a time for everything, but to think the flavor can't go beyond bland is just wrong.

[Hassley]

One of the dishes we serve where I work is a salmon wellington stuffed with Duxelle. It's even better when you top the wellington with a basic cream reduction.

[Hank Hanover]

So it appears that duxelles with an "s" usually plays a supporting role to the star of the dish.

Apparently, one of the most successful uses is as a stuffing for a flavorful piece of meat so that the mushrooms which are relatively bland can absorb the flavorful juices from the meat.

It probably wouldn't be very good as a ravioli filler unless you could enhance its flavor.

Is that about right?

[c oliver]

Re ravioli, I don't think that's a bad idea...but with some kind of addition. I don't what. That's why we have CH, right?

[JoanN]

I disagree that duxelles usually play a supporting role. It need not be so. In the the hors d'oeurvres mentioned above, they are unquestionably the star. All depends on how they're made and seasoned. I think you could make an excellent filling for ravioli using the recipe I use for the hors d'oeuvres.

http://www.timms.ca/kft/recipes/mushr...

[enbell]

Thyme goes well with mushrooms. I think this addition would make a flavorful ravioli filling (kind of a tongue-twister).

[JoanN]

I add a heavy cream to well-flavored duxelles, bring it to a boil until it is quite thick, spoon it into miniature toast cups or puff pastry shells, sprinkle with a bit of Parmesan, and serve as a delightful and elegant hors d'oeuvre. Somewhat less thickened and on toast points, it makes an equally elegant appetizer.

[greygarious]

It's got an "s" on the end, named after a nobleman named d'Uxelles. Other than use as a stuffing/topping for protein dishes, it can become Sauce Duxelles (for fish, eggs, meat), made with a basic duxelles recipe to which white wine, stock, and tomato puree are added.

[enbell]

I am clearly a simpleton! My first thought was to spread on a baguette, sprinkle with grated parm or romano and place under the broiler. It might also serve as a flavorful meat replacement in dishes like stuffed peppers or cabbage rolls. I like the idea of a ravioli filling, along those lines I wonder if you could use as a layer in a lasagna?

[Hank Hanover]

Well according to mnosyne, it is fairly bland. You might have to add flavorings to it. Perhaps some brandy and cream? Maybe cheese. If you made it with wild mushrooms as opposed to white button mushrooms, there would be more flavor.

[enbell]

The only cooking I have done with brandy is in a dessert pear dish and another one with peaches. Would white wine also enhance the flavor? I think morels are out of season now, but I bet they would also aid the complexity in this dish.

[c oliver]

enbell, if you EVER do something with morels other than saute' in butter, I'm gonna come over there and smack you :) J/K of course, but wow morels are just the best.

[enbell]

Well I have added a bit of garlic when I tossed with angel hair pasta. Good to know though - sometimes I wonder if I should be doing *more*. Thank you for confirming that less is more in this case :)

[c oliver]

When we're in So. Oregon in the spring,that's my big splurge. Morels sauteed in butter with s&p and a splash of red wine sitting alongside a nice rare steak is heaven on earth.

[enbell]

I have always used white wine with mushrooms and morels. Is red better or just different?

[c oliver]

I don't think the wine is even necessary. Morels and butter. Mmmmmm. Happy face :)

[enbell]

Okidokie!

[souschef]

Whipping cream is also good.

[Caroline1]

For me, duxelle is an absolute must in beef Wellington! I line the puff pastry with a thin layer of dry German or Italian ham (the less salty the better), then cover that with a layer of pate, cover tha pate with a layer of duxell, run stripes of sliced black truffles down the duxelle, then top it with a nicely browned whole tenderloin, tail tucked up for uniform density. Lift the puff pastry to wrap around the tenderloin and seal, Seal the ends neatly. Transfer to a parchment sheet on a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet seam side down. Decorate with puff pastry leaves and vines. Glaze with beaten egg and pop into a hot oven until beef is medium rare. Allow to rest and serve with a truffle sauce. It's fantastic! Oh, and sometimes I spike the duxelle with a little fine cognac. Happy cooking!

[c oliver]

Here's an old (1998!) Martha Stewart recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with savory duxelles:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/c...

I haven't fixed these in ages (since 1998 perhaps?) but I remember liking it and now I've pulled it out of the file. HH, you're just reminding me of all sorts of dishes. (We were chatty and off-topic btw.)

[karykat]

Last week I used duxelle to stuff a rainbow trout on the grill. The duxelle really worked with it. Used shallots, finely diced brown mushrooms and herbs.

[mnosyne]

Duxelles is not generally a highly flavored element; if used as a stuffing in quail for instance, it absorbs lovely quail juice and benefits from it. If you are going to use it to stuff ravioli, you will need to season the duxelles because the pasta won't contribute anything. Duxelles is also used as one of the layers in beef wellington, and other such dishes.