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Mushroom Panna Cotta with Candy Cap Mushrooms


Shel_B

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This morning I discovered a recipe for a mushroom panna cotta using candy cap mushrooms (http://www.bayareamushrooms.org/mushroommonth/candy_cap.html). This is something I want to try. Has anyone used these 'shrooms, or made a 'shroom panna cotta? Any input would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

 ... Shel


 

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I am guessing that these would be better used in another recipe. Maple syrup flavored panna cotta does not sound very appealing. The beauty of panna cotta is that it is just that..."cooked cream", with a modest amount of sugar and just enough gelatine to make it set. Personally, I think that the American habit of adding all manner of flavorings and fruits invariably detracts from the genuine item. Even a semi-savory panna cotta seems to me a bad idea. Flans (sformatini in Italian) seem better choices in both cases, as the addition of eggs figures to compliment both the maple syrup and mushroom aspects of this particular mushroom, while I am not sure that cream alone will...

Edited by Bill Klapp (log)

Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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An afterthought: savory mushrooms and cream obviously go together well. A dish like creamed wild mushrooms served over toast points, while a little old-fashioned, can be stunning. Since you are looking at "dessert" mushrooms, if you still want to try cream, maybe you could swap out the toast points for something sweet underneath, like a buttery and not-too-sweet pound cake. My best thought may be this: something that plays the maple nature of the mushroom to best advantage is probably going to be something akin to French toast or waffles, with an eggy bread component. Thus, how about the flan/sformato or nice, eggy DESSERT CREPES filled with your mushrooms, sauteed with or without a little cream? Or even serving the sauteed mushrooms on French toast?

Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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I am going to make the panna cotta because the idea interests me, if only because it's so different and I'm curious.

I do like the other ideas presented for using the candy caps, so thanks for that.

 ... Shel


 

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The beauty of panna cotta is that it is just that..."cooked cream", with a modest amount of sugar and just enough gelatine to make it set. Personally, I think that the American habit of adding all manner of flavorings and fruits invariably detracts from the genuine item.

Yes and no - yes, in that a "true" panna cotta is traditionally just cooked cream, BUT cream in Italy and some other European countries is different than much of the cream found here, so a simple "cooked cream" using American ingredients may not give quite the same results. The best I've been able to do - compared to a real Italian panna cotta - has been with the use of what we sometimes call manufacturing cream. I've not had the opportunity to use other European-style creams as yet.

No in the sense that this is the US, and we often put our own spins on what may be considered traditional cuisines and dishes from other places. So while my favorite Meyer lemon panna cotta may not be traditional, or even acceptable, in parts of Italy, it goes over quite well here, likewise the blood orange panna cotta I make for Toots every now and then. I don't care for it very much, but she loves it, as do others. Maybe they've never had the panna cotta of which you speak, but I have, and I see them as completely different dishes, each bringing something special to the table.

 ... Shel


 

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Actually, your best bet is probably cream had directly from a mom-and-pop dairy rather than anything proporting to be "European". You are right about the difference in commercial dairy products, but the difference is not so great when you leave the world of ultra-pasteurization and go artisanal.

You are free, of course, to do whatever you want with cream, and there is no doubt that cream and fruit are delicious together. Now and again, you see a few fresh berries used in the plating of panna cotta here. However, you are right that monkeying with panna cotta, even when the result is tasty, creates something that probably should have another name. For my taste, there is far more fertile ground for experimentation...

P.S. Fish gelatine in your panna cotta, not Knox...

Edited by Bill Klapp (log)
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Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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I am going to make the panna cotta because the idea interests me, if only because it's so different and I'm curious.

I'm glad to hear that. While I tend to agree in general with what Bill Klapp has said, I'm also a strong proponent of experimenting with food. I think there's a point where it would become tedious and excessive to create a new name for everything that doesn't conform strictly to the original template.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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You are too literal by half. I said "probably" should have another name. I am all for experimentation, but I find too much of it in American restaurants is screwing around with originals that start and end the day better. Admittedly, I come at things from a different angle these days. The Italian way is prime ingredients simply prepared to enhance the inherent qualities of the ingredients. When a single appetizer has a 5-line description of the 8 ingredients it contains, describing where every one came from and the conditions under which each was grown or harvested, I fear that the chef has lost his or her way and the point of the exercise. I pick on panna cotta (and not Shel) as one of those simple, perfect things that is often experimented with, but rarely, if ever, improved...

Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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When a single appetizer has a 5-line description of the 8 ingredients it contains, describing where every one came from and the conditions under which each was grown or harvested, I fear that the chef has lost his or her way and the point of the exercise.

I happen to agree with you 100% on this.

I pick on panna cotta (and not Shel) as one of those simple, perfect things that is often experimented with, but rarely, if ever, improved...

I pretty much agree with this as well (and I actually didn't think you were picking on anybody). But he didn't actually say he was trying to improve anything. Sometimes it's okay to go sideways. And if it turns out something actually takes things backwards, then you know that definitively rather than theoretically. I do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen that isn't particularly aimed at making something better, it's just a matter of being curious and wanting to see what the result will be. So I'm not suggesting that anything you said is incorrect or contentious, just that it can expand beyond those boundaries without claiming to be something greater than the starting point.

Edited by Tri2Cook (log)

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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Although I've never tried a mushroom panna cotta (I tend to like mine traditional), you could try infusing the cream with the mushrooms (dried ones would probably give more intense results). Cream has a tendency to mute flavours, so your best bet if you want the mushrooms to be in evidence might be to use them in a sweet version of a duxelles, served over a traditional panna cotta, instead of trying to flavour the panna cotta with them.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
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Although I've never tried a mushroom panna cotta (I tend to like mine traditional), you could try infusing the cream with the mushrooms (dried ones would probably give more intense results). Cream has a tendency to mute flavours, so your best bet if you want the mushrooms to be in evidence might be to use them in a sweet version of a duxelles, served over a traditional panna cotta, instead of trying to flavour the panna cotta with them.

You make an important point that I did not, which is that cream does, in fact, mute flavors, so much so that it can be used (where appropriate) to correct oversalted food. When mentioning the creamed mushrooms above, I was thinking, but did not say, a DASH of cream does the trick there without interfering with the delicate mushroom flavors. In particular, chilling or freezing cream intensifies the muting effect, which is why most gelato is ice milk rather than ice cream. Shel will go forward, but one more thought for him...I would serve the finished product at room temperature to get the most bang for your mushroom buck...

Edited by Bill Klapp (log)

Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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Ah - but these don't taste like mushrooms! They taste like maple syrup and all sorts of other sweet caramelly things. The smell coming off them is quite amazing.

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Although I've never tried a mushroom panna cotta (I tend to like mine traditional), you could try infusing the cream with the mushrooms (dried ones would probably give more intense results). Cream has a tendency to mute flavours, so your best bet if you want the mushrooms to be in evidence might be to use them in a sweet version of a duxelles, served over a traditional panna cotta, instead of trying to flavour the panna cotta with them.

Infusion has essentially been the plan from the beginning. The recipe I first saw, and which introduced me to the mushrooms and the idea of a Candy Cap panna cotta, uses just that technique. There is an interesting fillip which is to take the finely ground mushrooms and sprinkle the powder over the panna cotta, which might be an option to enhance or increase flavor, but that's not my intention at this point. Still, to throw a 'shroom into the grinder and reserve some Candy Cap dust might be a good idea should more flavor be desired. I don't yet know enough about the properties of the mushrooms to have a good idea of what the result will be - it's an interesting experiment, but one that I have high hopes for.

Years ago I discovered Parmigiano ice cream, and lots of people thought I was nuts, yet I later discovered it had been a common dish in Parma going back a couple of hundred years.

I thought Cat Cora had lost her mind when she suggested a black-pepper vanilla ice cream for dessert one night, but that was because I wasn't familiar with it. I tried it, loved it, recommended it, and learned that, while new and strange to me, it was not that unusual.

Josephine Araldo's pairing of fruit with vegetables came as a surprise - who'd have thought these unusual (to me and others) would have been so wonderful.

Many people who have commented on doing this another way, i.e., not making panna cotta with the mushrooms, have never tried these 'shrooms, and never tried making a panna cotta, or any dessert, with them. I cannot help myself to explore the possibilities, and to perhaps put on my table for my guests something new and usual for them to enjoy.

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 ... Shel


 

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P.S. Fish gelatine in your panna cotta, not Knox...

Now that harks back to some earlier recipes for panna cotta when it was made using the gelatin from rendered fish bones. Have you ever tried making panna cotta using egg whites instead of gelatin?

 ... Shel


 

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Shel will go forward, but one more thought for him...I would serve the finished product at room temperature to get the most bang for your mushroom buck...

A worthwhile thought. We'll see how the experiment goes. OTOH, I often prefer subtle flavors. Having my taste buds clobbered bite after bite with intense flavor is, to me, somewhat overwhelming and can become tiring.

 ... Shel


 

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Shel will go forward, but one more thought for him...I would serve the finished product at room temperature to get the most bang for your mushroom buck...

A worthwhile thought. We'll see how the experiment goes. OTOH, I often prefer subtle flavors. Having my taste buds clobbered bite after bite with intense flavor is, to me, somewhat overwhelming and can become tiring.

Doesn't sound like maple-flavored mushrooms figure to be subtle, but I have not had them...

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Bill Klapp

bklapp@egullet.com

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