Maybe nobody told you that tossing pickle brine is just like tipping a perfectly good bottle of vinegar or fish sauce or Worcestershire down the drain. Maybe you never heard that you could cook with brine, not just use it as a bracing, salty slap to chase your sorrows. Or maybe you assumed that brine would always take over, setting its vinegar and salt and spice on top of everything else. You might even have slipped some pickle juice into potato salad or Bloody Marys, where blandness signals a crushing defeat.
1stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter- 6tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3medium shallots, thinly sliced (1 1/2 cups)
- 3pounds mixed mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, and stemmed shiitake, thickly sliced or quartered
- 3/4cup brine, strained from a jar of dill pickles
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- In a very large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over moderately high heat, swirling, until the butter is golden, about 2 minutes. Add 1/3 of the shallots to the skillet and cook, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Add 1/3 of the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add 1/3 of the pickle brine and cook until absorbed, about 1 minute. Transfer the mushrooms to a serving bowl and keep warm.
- Repeat the process 2 more times with the remaining butter, olive oil, mushrooms and pickle brine. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
- Serves 6 to 8, but scales down well