DRColby

My wife and I have scheduled a 62-day cruise next Fall with Holland-American. On previous cruises I have not been entirely happy with the wines or prices and am tempted to see if I can take a couple of mixed cases on board and pay the corkage fee. Anyone done this and have any tips? Dave

They are able to grow morels commercially, although the details are quite secret and production is limited. Supposidly it has to do with changing the ozone in the growth chambers, an event similar to lighting storms or fires in nature. In other words, it takes a shocking experience to get morels to fruit. To my knowledge, matsutakes are yet to be raised from spores. They do "cultivate" them in Japan by tending their mushroom patches and providing the elements needed to control and increase fruitings and timing; eg: shade, moisture and temperature change. Other fungi we think of as wild that are cultivated are truffles and lobster mushrooms. Lobsters are parasidic (sp) and require a host fungus to grow on. Fred Stamets in Olympia (Fungi Prefecti) has created kits to grow Lobsters. I personally don't eat lobsters because of the host relationship and never quite knowning what the decomposed fungus was. Truffles are cultivated commercially in Oregon and elsewhere. You can buy them, especially during the holiday season when they are used for gift giving, at the Pike Street Market. They are somewhat disappointing when compared with French or Italian white and black truffles. Some years back the Chinese government spent research money on trying to cultivate truffles and retained a mycology professor from oregon State. They learned that euclyptus was one of the best hosts for truffles. The only problem was the truffles tastest just like Vicks. You can find truffles in the wild in the PNW, but they generally take on the taste of the host. You might be better off just eating fir tree bark. If all of this is of interest, you can learn much more at the Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS) show the weekend of Oct. 16-17th. They have complete displays of mshrooms from the area, people identifying fungi for you if you bring them in, and gusest chefs giving cooking demos with 'shrums. dave

We did the tasting menu last night at Union, and Ethan had four dishes on the menu that featured wild mushrooms. It has been a banner season for harvesting and I have been sharing my findings with Ethan. Many are types not found every year and are in abudance this Fall. Last night he used some safron milky caps I brought him, and also had matusakes, porcini and chaterelles in other dishes. I also gave him some gypsies to try. It's the start of hedgehog season so I supect he will be using those in the coming weeks. I have dined in a couple of resturants that do just mushroom menus, unfortunately neitherin Seattle. I do think, though, that Ethan does as well as anyone in the business when it comes to artfully - and tastefully - using wild mushrooms. I have also been taking him some fairly unsual herbs to work into his dishes. Last night he had a type of tuna in a sorrel cream, and has a desert using fresh bay leaves on the menu. I'll be interested to see what he comes up with from some pennyroyal and catmint I dropped off. dave

Sunday's NYTimes carries a review of "Just Enough Liebling" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/books/review/ ), a reader of his work. I havn't read this, but I have long been a Liebling fan. Anyone interested in food - and especially classic food - should not miss "Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris"; today it is interesting to see the the wines and meals that have stood the test of time. I was introduced tof Liebling in the late 50's, when I tried my hand at sportswritting and covered boxing along with all the other sports. In the 50s television had not yet ruined boxing as a sport. Liebling was one of the few real boxing writers. He was outstanding when portraying the Long family and Louisiana. Liebling seems to have been a character of H.L. Mencken proportions and nearly as tragic. dave

Had matsus last night on the grill and then with a dipping sauce of mirin, soya, fresh ginger, green onions. To me they are one of the strongest of the mushrooms and carry a tremendious amount of unique flavor. Tonight it's noletes on pasta with some tri-tip. dave

It was a great day in the woods today, probably the best I have ever seen. I will try to show you with the photos; they are about half of what I picked after trading out with a resturant and giving away more to former employees and friends. Have many white chanterelles, rough stemmed (or scaber) boletes and stilll some matustakes left. Since food is about sharing if anyone would care for some of these send me an e-mail. No deliveries. dave ( Photos won't post. Can't figure out how to post from Iphoto. No GIF format. If anyone can pass along instructions I will give another try... )

It's best to cut with a knife, but that isn't always possible because of the way stems grow. The reason to cut is because chanterelle stems tend to shatter when pulled, and it is far easer to clean most of the dirt off the mushroom before you put it in your basket than at home. Also, don't use plastic grocery bags, they smother the mushroom. If you use bags, use kraft that breathes. There is still a long way to go for the chanterelle season - at least until the first hard settling frost- but mushrooms will be very wet from all the rain. Take the mushrooms when you get home and spread them out in a dry place on a piece of newspaper for a day or so until the mositure is gone. They are also easier to clean when dry.) Then bag them (again in kraft), throw a dampened paper towel on top and they will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrig. dave

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/dining/22CHEF.html dave

Whenever we go to a restaurant I ask the waiter what their signature dish is. Generally, in the the US, the lame answer will be "they all are." To me the signature dish is this: I think of sorrel and Spring salmon as a natural, also very French. To me to claim it as a "signature dish" would be to have this made with the very best ingredients and the closest attention paid to the preparation. In other words perfection of the recipe, unique or not. It certainly isn't my "signature dish" because I can't come close to to approximating what a top chef has done with the right ingredients. Signature dish: No patients, no naming exclusive, just excellence in preparation and memorable. dave

Eat chanterelles. Soon, if the rest of the mushroom season goes like the start, there will be many boletes and then - hopefully - matsutakes. dave

I am sure it is just concidence after last week's meal, but last evening I received a call from Fare Start asking for a donation. They are sincere, and pretty pushy. After last week's presentation it is also pretty tough not to donate to the program. Especially with MSFT kicking in $150,000 to the capital campaign. The caller said it takes $6,000 to put a student through the Fare Start program. (I would guess it is much more than that.) As I watched last week's presentation, I wondered how those who complete Fare Start stack up with those from other Seattle cullinary programs such as Seattle Central's or the Art Institute. I would imagine Fare Start students are a little more mature when it comes to job responsibility. dave

Use the soaking liquid in your stock. Take a few extra dried porcini and pulverize in spice grinder, use to add intensify flavor and thickener. dave

Cathy is cruising around Alaska so we won't make it Thursday. Have fun. dave

My first impression of Buien 20 or 30 years ago was that it was one of the NW's first 1950's shopping centers that they put roads through the way the English declared roads where the cows wandered. That view has greatly changed in recent years. Tighe is right, you can find most anything you need in the area for cooking and then some. We have some good butchers (B&E Meats, better probably in des Moines than Burien) and places where you can get hard to find items like Meyer lemons in season. Resturant wise, besides what has been mentioned we had halibut cheeks with hush puppies the other day at a fish stand on 154th close to Ambaum.. There is another great fish stand in des Moines called Wally's. We, and Japaese friends, like the sushi at Suhisake in des Moines. The Greek stand in des Moines was already mentioned. There are scatterings of Thai resturants along 1st Ave. and a couple in Burien that are good. We also eat Vietnamese about once a week at either of two or three places in Burien. There is also a Salvadorian resturant on about 150th in Burien that we stop at occassionally. Southend ain't as bad as many crank it up to be, you just need to know what you are looking for and where to look. dave

Much, much tougher and with lots more membraine to peel away. I have general used a two day method on sweetbreads. Parboiing l with a little vinegar, peeling as possible and then putting in dish and weighting down over night in refrig. Then peel again and grill over hight heat. This time I tried, as someone suggested, the method of marinating overnight in lemon juice, onion and black pepper., peeled what I could and grilled. They were pretty bad (mushy). I think maybe the lemon cooks meat the way it does fish and seafood . Anyhow, the cat and dog will eat well this week on leftovers. dave

Wife is leaving tomorrow on a cruise. I am cleaning the freezer. Find a pack of beef sweetbreads. Which leads to two things: 1.) my gripes about the state of US meat and 2.) to ask suggestions about what to do with these" toughies"? I used to be able to special order veal sweetbreads (which I love to with wild mushrooms) from the butcher. Now, because of the mad cow scare, he is reluctant to handle any organ meat except liver. Plus there apparantly is no market in the US for ofal. How sad. When you can find beef sweetbreads, they tend to be priced like steak. Is this another item that we are only going to be able to buy from a producer, and does anyone know a producer of veal sweetbreads shipping by mail? Ideas for my toughies, please? dave

We were in Paris about a year ago this month and stumbled into a mycological show at Luxemborug Gardens. It was welcoming and impressive. I based that on also belonging here to the Puget Sound mushroom society. The members had all kinds of magazines and cookbooks on display. They were friendly, and - in short - I think they would welcome you to hunt with them. Another time in late October French friends took us mushroom hunting at Fountainbleau. Lots of people, but amazing we found edibles, mostly hedgehogs (toothed fungi). Once in the Cote' d'Azur a pair of sisters took me hunting in the Martime Alps. We found nothing. They blamed the Swiss for invading their country whenever there were Fall rains. Just remember: The French don't use pigs to hunt truffles because they don't look good on their arm. The French take their mushroom hunting very seriously, I am amazed at the number of clubs and books available to you. All of which, I think, is great. dave

Was going to try the batter method, saw it mentioned in "The Ultimate Mushroom Book" but no batter recipe. Care to share you batter ideas? Have had cauliflower in clear broth, quite distinct this way. dave

Belay the last, I see we are on the list; question sitll holds on dress. dave

Is there still time for Cathy amd I to join you and its it okay tp show up after mushroom hunting and still dressed for the field? dave

We pick both white and golden chanterelles, and both - on the Olympic peninsula - grow at the base of fir that is at least 30 years old. The whites (which are meatier than the goldens) like it under the huckleberries. They are generally dirtier so you don't see so many in resturants and markets. The goldens thrive in moss and close to salal. Both berries, by the way, make some great jams. I was on my knees most of the morning and so - at 63 - ached a little. My wife went to exercise that morning. I like to kid her that she would get more exercise going with me, but she is not a crack of dawn person. Tomorrow I will go later, she will go and we will have a nice lunch somewhere in the Cascades. As far as trade-outs. First I didn't what to clean all those mushrooms so they were dirty. We took the last price the restaurant paid per pound (about $5) and used that for a basis. Cathy and I will get a tasting menu with wine some night in the future. That's a good price because I asked a mushroom buyer afterwards at the Pike Street Market and he said there had been so many come onto the market this week that he couldn't use any more. The woods are remarkably alive this year and I hope it continues without an early frost. dave Add ending: By the way, I just had about 200 pounds of albacore loins that I caught a couple of weekends ago. Half I traded to my butcher so smoke and freezer pack the rest of what I had. The year before I traded a sushi restaurant for meals. We threw a party for my 91-year-old mother-in-law for 20 people and still had sushi meals in exchange for about 3 months. I like sushi and don't have the skills to prepare it the way my Japanese friends do.

Picked about 30 pounds of chanterelles today. Most of them went to a local Seattle resturant for a party they are having (they feed my wife and I in exchange) the rest are going along with some piminto peppers out of the garden, sauted in olive oil to accompany grilled albarcore that is wrapped with bacon, corn-on-the-cob and tomatoes. A bigger dining problem is deciding what to do with a cauliflower mushroom I found today. I've had them in soups and with eggs but am trying to come up something different, like maybe a flan? They are a very fragrant and mild mushroom(also very dirty and tough to clean) . Any ideas? Dave

Cathy and I would have to agree with all the praise of Union. We visited rfor the first time, did 3 plates and share a desert. The food waws remarkable and even more amazing were the wines (by the glass) and knowledgable staff. We have been to Cascadia and Lark in the recent months; I would put Union in the "not to miss" catagory. The only problem we found was we arrived at 5:30 Saturday and had a 7:30 event so couldn't do the tasting menu. Exiting quickly the door the host said, "make sure you don't miss lunch. It's a real deal." We won't. dave

Tomorrow we are heading for the mountains in search of rough stemmed boletes (very similar to cepes), pines, and gypsies; all choice eating. Weather is just right: rain showers now-and-then, then warm sun-breaks and cool nights. Great fungus growning weather - even for that on my body. Who knows what we'll fine, but if you are a mushroom hunter you have to go look before a heavy frost takes it all away. dave add ending: Tonight it'ss pork loin with marsella, chanterelles (the 2 week old ones) and shitakes; polenta , green salad, and balsamic tomatoes from the garden.

I've got some chanterelles I've had in the refrig for two weeks in a kraft bag with a damp paper towel on top of them. That's probably a little long. Chanterelles don't dehydrate well, they become very stringy and tough. If you want to keep them longer it is best to sear them quickly in butter or oil, put tme in a ZIP lock and freeze. The Pacific NW is kind of an epicenter for chanterelle and pine mushroom gathering with many of our mushrooms going to Germany and Japan. I will see buyers in the field paying at as little as $1.50 a pound to the pickers. The buyers immediately dry-brine them in rock salt and then ship them off to Germany. I think mosrt of these are canned. dave