cdkitchen > cooking experts > pamela chester
What do boy scouts and fine cooks have in common? They both employ a method of folding meals into packets with delicious results. The boy scouts have their simple foil pouch cooking, while French and Italian chefs have cooking in parchment paper, or en papillote or in cartoccio, respectively.
There are many different methods for this technique but the basic premise is that the food will be sealed in and steam in its own juices. It makes for a memorable dining experience.
One of my most vivid food memories is while on a trip to Italy while eating in a small town Tuscan Osteria. We had ordered a side dish of the local porcini mushrooms. We were surprised when what came out was a packet of foil (this was Italian foil, so it was still quite elegant). Our kind server explained, using lots of hand gestures in the typical Italian way, as she opened the packet, to first inhale the aromas from the still cooking mushrooms and then to enjoy the dish. It was incredible how taking in the concentrated scent of the earthy mushrooms enhanced the dish and the whole meal.
Cooking in parchment paper is a process that sounds fussy and challenging, but is in fact really easy and forgiving. The steam created inside the parchment wrap slowly cooks the ingredients in a moist bath. It’s the ideal way to cook fish or steam a variety of fresh vegetables. With a little combining, you’ll have a full meal, ready to pop in the oven. A bonus is there is very little clean up.
Best of all it’s a perfect make ahead meal; you can assemble all the ingredients in the packets in the morning and they’ll be ready to go when you are. It’s the ideal recipe for both busy weeknights and for serving guests at a dinner party. Each diner receives his or her own packet, making serving a breeze. The drama of uncovering a delicious meal tableside will be something that will get your guests talking.
You can cook just about anything in parchment or foil with the right preparation. The key is to cut veggies into a size that will cook in the allotted cooking time. For example if you are making delicate fish, you will want to thinly slice or julienne the rest of the ingredients so they cook in the shorter time needed to cook the fish. Or pile market fresh veggies, trimmed and cut according to their cooking time, in the center along with chopped garlic, herbs, and olive oil, for a delicious meatless meal that can be served over rice or couscous.
With parchment cooking, you can make a delicious side dish of roasted new potatoes, or the aforementioned mushrooms. Although fresh porcini are both rare and expensive in the United States, you can substitute any fresh local mushroom that is in season, such as morels, chanterelle, or any other mix of wild or cultivated mushroom you like.
Boy scouts have been using the same method to cook while camping for generations. Foil packets cooked over the campfire, on the grill or even in an outdoor fire pit are a great way to take parchment cooking outside. Just use heavy duty aluminum foil, and plenty of fat such as butter or olive oil to coat the rest of your ingredients, and you can store the packs in the cooler until ready to cook. Foil packs, AKA cowboy or hobo packs, should be wrapped tightly just like a parchment pack.
To seal tightly, first take a section of parchment, about 15 inches long, and fold down the middle. Then place the food to be cooked to one side of the fold. Fold parchment back over itself, and tightly crimp two-inch sections into folds, working around the packet and overlapping each fold, to create a half moon shape.
So try these parchment baked or grilled mushrooms as a side dish sometime soon, they’re excellent as an earthy accompaniment to steak or over pasta!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
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Cooking Origami
What do boy scouts and fine cooks have in common? They both employ a method of folding meals into packets with delicious results. The boy scouts have their simple foil pouch cooking, while French and Italian chefs have cooking in parchment paper, or en papillote or in cartoccio, respectively.
There are many different methods for this technique but the basic premise is that the food will be sealed in and steam in its own juices. It makes for a memorable dining experience.
One of my most vivid food memories is while on a trip to Italy while eating in a small town Tuscan Osteria. We had ordered a side dish of the local porcini mushrooms. We were surprised when what came out was a packet of foil (this was Italian foil, so it was still quite elegant). Our kind server explained, using lots of hand gestures in the typical Italian way, as she opened the packet, to first inhale the aromas from the still cooking mushrooms and then to enjoy the dish. It was incredible how taking in the concentrated scent of the earthy mushrooms enhanced the dish and the whole meal.
Cooking in parchment paper is a process that sounds fussy and challenging, but is in fact really easy and forgiving. The steam created inside the parchment wrap slowly cooks the ingredients in a moist bath. It’s the ideal way to cook fish or steam a variety of fresh vegetables. With a little combining, you’ll have a full meal, ready to pop in the oven. A bonus is there is very little clean up.
Best of all it’s a perfect make ahead meal; you can assemble all the ingredients in the packets in the morning and they’ll be ready to go when you are. It’s the ideal recipe for both busy weeknights and for serving guests at a dinner party. Each diner receives his or her own packet, making serving a breeze. The drama of uncovering a delicious meal tableside will be something that will get your guests talking.
You can cook just about anything in parchment or foil with the right preparation. The key is to cut veggies into a size that will cook in the allotted cooking time. For example if you are making delicate fish, you will want to thinly slice or julienne the rest of the ingredients so they cook in the shorter time needed to cook the fish. Or pile market fresh veggies, trimmed and cut according to their cooking time, in the center along with chopped garlic, herbs, and olive oil, for a delicious meatless meal that can be served over rice or couscous.
With parchment cooking, you can make a delicious side dish of roasted new potatoes, or the aforementioned mushrooms. Although fresh porcini are both rare and expensive in the United States, you can substitute any fresh local mushroom that is in season, such as morels, chanterelle, or any other mix of wild or cultivated mushroom you like.
Boy scouts have been using the same method to cook while camping for generations. Foil packets cooked over the campfire, on the grill or even in an outdoor fire pit are a great way to take parchment cooking outside. Just use heavy duty aluminum foil, and plenty of fat such as butter or olive oil to coat the rest of your ingredients, and you can store the packs in the cooler until ready to cook. Foil packs, AKA cowboy or hobo packs, should be wrapped tightly just like a parchment pack.
To seal tightly, first take a section of parchment, about 15 inches long, and fold down the middle. Then place the food to be cooked to one side of the fold. Fold parchment back over itself, and tightly crimp two-inch sections into folds, working around the packet and overlapping each fold, to create a half moon shape.
So try these parchment baked or grilled mushrooms as a side dish sometime soon, they’re excellent as an earthy accompaniment to steak or over pasta!
Wild Mushrooms Baked in Parchment
Made with cultivated or wild mushrooms, olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic, fresh herbs
Made with cultivated or wild mushrooms, olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic, fresh herbs
Serves/Makes: 4
- 2 pounds mixed cultivated or wild mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and thickly sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, tied in small bouquets with twine
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place mushrooms in large mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic, and toss to combine.
Fold 15 inch sections of parchment in half lengthwise. Cut folded sheets into half circles.
Arrange mushrooms evenly on the rounds of parchment and place 1 herb bouquet on top of each. Fold the parchment over to make half moons, then fold and crimp the rounded edge to make a package, tucking in the ends. (may be done a few hours before cooking)
Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Parchment will puff and brown as the mushrooms roast within.
Transfer package to a serving dish, and carefully open, remove herbs and serve directly from the parchment, alongside roasted meat or over pasta.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1254-cooking-origami/