Jeremy Chan’s secret ingredient: dried porcini

Dried porcini are versatile. You can put these mushrooms into a lot of different things, and they boost complexity and depth. They can be soaked, roasted or blended. They can infuse a sauce, and then be folded through a dish.

Porcini have the most incredible savoury flavour. When I’m making a roast chicken, I baste it in a skillet, caramelising it on all sides, then add white wine, chicken stock and soaked porcini, which I hydrate in the hot stock. A little bit of wine, honey, soy sauce, fresh thyme, some star anise – I bring that to the boil, strain it, reduce it, finely chop the soaked porcini and add them back to the pan. It makes an incredible, super-savoury chicken glaze.

I do pasta sauce with them, too – a quick glaze for rigatoni or spaghetti. Put the porcini in the oven, roast them so they’re even crispier, then pulse in a blender and add to caramelising garlic and chilli. Then add a little chicken stock, lemon juice, lots of lemon zest, parsley, pasta and parmesan.

Jeremy Chan is executive chef and co-owner of Ikoyi, London