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    Stuffed mushrooms with duxelles

    champignons farcis

    Medium mushroom caps baked briefly, filled with a dry duxelles of their own chopped stems, onion and shallot cooked in butter and oil, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and browned in a hot oven. Escoffier's classic French garnish.

    Five browned mushroom caps filled with mushroom duxelles and topped with golden breadcrumbs and parsley on a white oval plate.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    25 min
    Cooking
    25 min
    Total
    50 min
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Frying pan; clean cloth to squeeze the chopped mushrooms
    • Baking dish
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    • Mushrooms

    • Dry duxelles

    • Topping

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Make the duxelles: squeeze the chopped mushrooms hard in a cloth to remove their water. Warm the onion and shallot for a few moments in the butter and oil, add the mushrooms and cook until every trace of moisture has evaporated. Season, add the parsley and set aside.

      Why A dry duxelles keeps the filling firm and concentrates its flavour; wet mushrooms would flood the caps.

      Timer · 12 min12:00

    2. Heat the oven to 220 °C. Wash and dry the caps, lay them in the dish, season and sprinkle with a little oil. Bake 5 minutes.

      Why Pre-baking lets the caps give up some liquid before they are filled.

      Timer · 5 min5:00

    3. Fill each cap with duxelles in a dome, thickened with a little fresh breadcrumb if you like. Sprinkle with fine breadcrumbs and a few drops of oil or melted butter.

    4. Brown in the hot oven until golden.

      Why Escoffier says 'four assez vif', a fairly hot oven; 220 °C is our reading of it.

      Timer · 8 min8:00

    Substitutions

    • Butter (vegan) → Use oil only for the duxelles and the topping.
    • Breadcrumbs (gluten-free) → Leave them out; the dish is less crisp.

    Common mistakes

    • Not squeezing the chopped mushrooms: the duxelles stays wet and the caps go soggy.

    Storage & reheating

    Dry duxelles keeps 3–4 days in the fridge, covered (Escoffier covers it with buttered paper). Filled caps are best baked and eaten the same day.

    Safety

    Contains gluten (breadcrumbs) and milk (butter).

    Allergens

    Gluten · Milk

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    vegetarian

    Duxelles in the classical kitchen

    Escoffier calls dry duxelles a preparation "used in numerous dishes" and says it can be made from any edible mushroom; it always starts from chopped mushrooms. Stuffed mushroom caps are one of its simplest uses, a garnish for meat or a small dish on their own.

    [1]

    Drive out the water

    Mushrooms are mostly water. For duxelles Escoffier chops the stems and trimmings finely, presses them hard to extract their "eau de végétation", and cooks them with onion and shallot until completely dry. The caps get a short first bake with oil so they shed liquid, then the filling, a breadcrumb crust, and a hot oven to colour it.

    [1]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin France In preparation

    Recipe

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