the.com/portobello
a button mushroom that survived long enough to become a steak
means A large, mature brown mushroom (the grown-up form of the cremini) with a meaty cap often grilled or used as a vegetarian centerpiece.
from A 20th-century marketing flourish more than an ancient root. These big mushrooms were long considered overgrown and unsellable, until someone gave them an Italian-sounding glamour name to move them off the shelf — likely echoing 'Portobello,' a name carried by places like London's Portobello Road and the original Puerto Bello in Panama, both ultimately from Italian/Spanish 'porto bello,' meaning 'beautiful port.' The mushroom never came from any such harbor; it was simply dressed up to sound like it did.
- same species
- Identical to white button and cremini mushrooms
- just older
- It's simply a fully matured cremini
- the name
- A clever 1980s marketing rebrand for an unsold giant
- dark gills
- Those exposed gills can muddy whatever you cook them with
- meat stand-in
- Grilled caps fake burgers convincingly enough to fool carnivores
portobello road market — london street market in notting hill hosting 1000+ antique and vintage stalls every saturday
portobello panama canal — caribbean port city on panama's atlantic side, historic coaling station and trading hub
portobello scotland — beach and promenade in edinburgh where the scottish parliament building now stands