Mushrooms

[sparrowgrass]

My sister, the Morel Queen of Southern Illinois, takes me hunting every spring. I like morels, but I love, love, love oyster mushrooms. They are much easier to find, and I like the texture and flavor better.

They are also a bit easier to clean--I find way too many little critters inside all those crinkles and wrinkles of the morels. Just one tiny snail, missed in the cleaning process, can turn you off of morels for a long time. Think of an eggshell bit in your scrambled eggs--very similar, except it is a SNAIL! (insert small gagging icon here)

[judyfoodie]

I love morels, chanterelles, dried porcinis and of course Hen of the Woods (grifola fronderosa). Last year, I found enormous quantities of everything.............. this year.......... a whole lot of nothing. Boo-hoo!

[Nyleve Baar]

Bumper crop of porcinis the last few weeks. I have my fingers crossed for a bit of rain tonight to extend the bounty. I've dried pounds and pounds of them already - have to go half and half with the friend whose property provides these riches - but I've also been able to make some drop dead delicious risotto and pasta with them. I got so excited about all this that last night I ordered an Opinel mushroom-hunting knife on ebay. (Practically a guarantee that the season is over...).

[kitchensqueen]

Mmm, mushroom risotto is great. I also like to make "poor man's risotto" - a little orzo pasta cooked in stock with fresh sauteed mushrooms, shallots and fresh herbs. So tasty!

I'd also like to get out and forage, but living in Chicago I'm not sure where to begin - the forest preserves maybe?

[SobaAddict70]

Nothing says "autumn" to me so much as matsutake gohan (Japanese rice steamed with matsutake mushrooms).

Chanterelles, shiitakes and morels number among my favorites as well.

[Dakki]

Crikey what a fungus. Looks like an unreliable bowling ball. What will you do with it?

A photo from the top would have been even more dramatic.

What will 'I' do with it? Nada. DH, Ed, says he'll fry it and freeze it. But this morning it is still sitting there.

Is it still there?

Can you weight it?

[Darienne]

Crikey what a fungus. Looks like an unreliable bowling ball. What will you do with it?

A photo from the top would have been even more dramatic.

What will 'I' do with it? Nada. DH, Ed, says he'll fry it and freeze it. But this morning it is still sitting there.

Is it still there?

Can you weight it?

Too late. Too bad, I never thought of weighing it. Most of it is fried, frozen and packaged. The rest he says he'll take care of tonight. Right.

[liuzhou]

 

There doesn't seem to be a dedicated mushroom topic, surely a grave oversight. I did start one a while back about mushrooms in China, but that is a niche interest.

 

So how about a mushroom emporium of favourite recipes, favourite mushrooms, favourite mushroom cookery bookeries, mushroom tales, mushroom tips and trivia?

 

I'll start with this link to a selection of Ottelenghi's mushroom recipes.

 

And a link to my favourite mushroom cookbook. Jane Grigson's Mushroom Feast.

Edited October 21, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

Damn.  You just cost me $10. The Grigson book is available as a Kindle edition and I love, love, love mushrooms. I am never happy if there are not mushrooms in my refrigerator. However, having said that, they are usually creminis and/or portobellos.  We are seeing more varieties of mushrooms now including Shimeji,  shiitake, king mushrooms and occasionally a few other varieties. But these are not normally available in a middle of the road grocery store. Certainly more varieties are found in the Asian groceries and in the very high-end groceries. 

 

 One of my fondest memories is of field mushrooms collected by an uncle and cooked by my grandmother in milk. I remember nothing else about it but that black juice which I was allowed to sop up with hunks of torn bread.  When portobellos first showed up in the grocery store I thought I had gone to heaven but they are not the same at all.  They resemble the field mushrooms in size only.  I am really looking forward to this topic and will eat up every word of it. 

[rotuts]

good idea

 

I too have the Grigson book

 

Ill have to dust it off.

 

there was a woodsy place very near me where I sued to walk my dog (s )

 

in the fall  there were many mushrooms here and there

 

even what were clearly brown ' button ' mushrooms through out a shady grassy area

 

but Im not trained so did not pick

 

that's one of the many things I wish I were trained to do.

 

several families would defend on the area in the fall and clean the place out.

 

looked pretty tasty to me.

Edited October 21, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

for me , a collection of fresh mushrooms of many types from a good and reliable market

 

cleaned , roughly chopped , sautéed for a bit until reduced in size

 

a decent splash of dry  red or white wine , reduced

 

then heavy cream  , so it wouldn't split , simmered briefly

 

then as a topping for fresh linguine.

 

same wine of course as a Person Beverage.

 

crusty good-crumb bread.

 

Heaven 

[kayb]

When I was a kid and the only mushrooms available in rural West Tennessee were the sliced ones in a can, I'd badger Mama into buying a can and I'd sit down and eat the whole thing. The first time I bought and sauteed in wine my own white mushrooms from the grocery, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then I discovered portobellos; mushroom deliciousness x two or three. 

 

I love any kind of mushroom. Buy them often at Aldi and saute them for a side dish, to put over a steak, or to top pizza. I will be eternally grateful to @HungryChris for the marinated mushrooms recipe; when my quart jar gets low, more mushrooms go on the grocery list and go right back in the same brine with a bit of topping-off. I am never without them, and eat them with a sandwich or cheese and crackers for lunch.

 

Confession: I have never yet had a morel. That's on my bucket list. That, and to learn how to identify the "good kind" vs. the "bad kind" in the wild, and forage my own.

 

[Alex]

34 minutes ago, kayb said:

Confession: I have never yet had a morel. That's on my bucket list. That, and to learn how to identify the "good kind" vs. the "bad kind" in the wild, and forage my own.

 

Given that I've lived in Michigan for most of my adult (or at least pretending to be an adult) life, I am extraordinarily fond of morels. For me, simple is better -- cooked gently in some butter, with salt, pepper, perhaps a tiny pinch of thyme, and finished with some reduced cream and bit of chives. It's terrific alongside (or on top of) any substantial protein, including salmon (especially king). The one more complicated recipe that I love is a classic springtime gratin of morels, fiddleheads, and asparagus. (Pete Peterson was the driving force behind the departed and dearly missed Tapawingo, in Ellsworth, Michigan, and the current Alliance, in Traverse City.)

Edited October 21, 2017 by Alex (log)

[IowaDee]

I live in the heart of morel country.  My in-laws owned 160 acres next to us and had some prime hunting ground there. One spring hubby and I hit the jack pot but had no way to haul our bounty home.  It was still cold enough that he was wearing long underwear.  He took them off and tied them shut at the ankles.  We then filled them up with our haul and headed home.  We have had many giggles over that.  A few years later the in-laws sold the farm and moved into town.  The new owners love morels and closed their place to hunting.  Other than that they are wonderful neighbors but damn!

My FIL an an expression for when he thought someone was BSing him.  He said they treated him like a mushroom.  Kept him in the dark and feed him bull shit.

[rotuts]

has anyone  ' home cultivated '  mushrooms

 

in freshly harvested trees ?

 

you can buy ' plugs ' that fit the holes you drill out

 

you add the mushroom-plugs  and then seal.

 

you keep the stack of wood so it gets air , but shade and you keep it moist

 

then :

 

mushrooms !

 

goggling get me this :

 

mushroom plugs

 

http://www.fungi.com/plug-spawn/articles/plug-spawn.html

 

https://mushroommountain.com/t/plug-spawn

 

 

[rotuts]

from the second site :

 

 

I have easy access to fresh logs

 

the logs need to be fresh  so that indigenous fungi are not already Enjoying that Log.

[kayb]

Some farmers from whom I bought a lot of chicken and pork when I lived in southwestern Arkansas also grew mushrooms. They held a seminar every year where people prepped, took home and grew their own mushroom logs. Always thought I ought to do that, and never did.

 

[KennethT]

I can't find it now, but somewhere on my Hydroponic forums I visit, someone advertised an indoor mushroom growing system - supposedly some restaurants in NYC are using them to grow their own mushrooms that they can harvest as needed.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

but Im not trained so did not pick

 Like you, I am risk averse especially as far as unknown mushrooms are concerned.  I have a vague recollection, perhaps even a false memory, of neighbours in Derby, England who succumbed to unwisely chosen mushrooms. 

 

“There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but no old, bold mushroom hunters.”

[rotuts]

Yep

 

mushroom logs are one of the Soooo Fine 

 

gardening things I didn't get my Dairy-Air  off to do

 

but maybe next year ?

 

not for everybody

 

but Soooo  Fine I think.

[ElsieD]

38 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I can't find it now, but somewhere on my Hydroponic forums I visit, someone advertised an indoor mushroom growing system - supposedly some restaurants in NYC are using them to grow their own mushrooms that they can harvest as needed.

 

My SIL bought one of these indoor mushroom grow logs and was disappointed in the yield.  

[KennethT]

The thing I saw wasn't just a grow log - it was a whole system that looked like a 6 foot high bookshelf - it had a controller than controlled the whole environment - lights, humidity, temperature, etc...

[rotuts]

I think the logs need to be outside

 

as its cooler etc

 

for indoor

 

i can think of 'Srooms

 

but they are not for dinner 

 

just saying

 

 

[Anna N]

8 minutes ago, rotuts said:

 

When I was a kid and the only mushrooms available in rural West Tennessee were the sliced ones in a can, I'd badger Mama into buying a can and I'd sit down and eat the whole thing. The first time I bought and sauteed in wine my own white mushrooms from the grocery, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then I discovered portobellos; mushroom deliciousness x two or three. 

 

I used to be able to get mushrooms in cans only and I quite enjoyed them.  I still keep a can or two around but now I’ve come to consider them as a different vegetable altogether. Similar to mushrooms but I’m not fooled into believing they are the same. 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

I will be eternally grateful to @HungryChris for the marinated mushrooms recipe; when my quart jar gets low, more mushrooms go on the grocery list and go right back in the same brine with a bit of topping-off.

Here.