All Things Mushroom

[Katie Meadow]

33 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

The article says false morels have been ruled out.

Well, apparently they haven't been ruled out by me!

[gfweb]

I distrust foraged mushrooms, cooked or raw. Too much room for error. 

 

Kidney and liver problems show up late and sneaky. 

[Katie Meadow]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

I distrust foraged mushrooms, cooked or raw. Too much room for error. 

 

Kidney and liver problems show up late and sneaky. 

For a decade I was a member of the SF Mycological Society. When you hang out with those nerds you learn a lot! I picked only what I was sure of. If unknown, I would take a sample and do spore prints when I got home. They were lovely and fun to do, and were a good way to i.d. suspects. I'm still alive for two reasons. One, I was very careful and a good student. Two, at a certain point I became so allergic to poison oak that I just couldn't deal with it any more. Too bad. Nothing quite like Chanterelles cooked in butter on toast.

[chromedome]

15 hours ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

I forgot to mention that otherwise perfectly edible wild mushrooms may cause allergic reactions. A good friend (and excellent cook) can't eat chanterelles because his throat closes up, which is undesirable for a number of reasons. I can't eat any of the the inky caps for the same reason. Fortunately I don't really care for them, but it would be a real downer if I couldn't eat chanterelles. By the way, alcohol and the entire inky cap familly (coprinus, I believe, but I haven't looked it up) do not play well together. So no wine with dinner if you're eating any of them.

Coprinus comatus, the popular and easy-to-identify shaggymane, does not contain coprine (the culprit where alcohol is concerned). Common inky cap, Coprinus atramentaria, has coprine and can't be combined with alcohol.

 

Shaggymanes aren't universally loved because their caps have an oddly soft texture (their stems are more like a "regular" mushroom) but I also know people who consider them a favorite.

[liuzhou]

Shaggy manes are on sale in every supermarket here. Known as 鸡腿菇 (jī tuǐ gū) or “chicken leg mushrooms”, they are very popular.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

what are the issues in eating ( farmed  ie grocery store )

 

white ( or brown ) button mushrooms

 

( crimini , portabella )

 

raw ?

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Eat shaggy mane mushrooms quickly--they "autodigest" which means they almost immediately begin to turn black and drippy. Hence the name "inky cap." The ones Luizhou posted look very fresh indeed. But I still don't care for them because they make my throat itch and close up, plus they're not the tastiest mushroom in the forest. IMO.

Edited March 18, 2024 by Nancy in Pátzcuaro (log)

[Katie Meadow]

On 3/17/2024 at 7:14 AM, rotuts said:

what are the issues in eating ( farmed  ie grocery store )

 

white ( or brown ) button mushrooms

 

( crimini , portabella )

 

raw ?

To be honest I have no idea. Some sources say never to eat raw mushrooms, period. I just don't. I find them creepy. YMMV.

[rotuts]

I used to ike them raw in a spinach salad.

[haresfur]

A mushroom tip from The Cookup With Adam Liaw, which is one of my favourite Australian cooking shows because there are lots of tidbits about technique, either from him or from his guests. It seems like they are genuinely learning from each other.

 

Before frying mushrooms in oil, he microwaves them for about 4 or 5 minutes. The idea is that the air pockets in mushrooms are what suck up the oil and by microwaving them first, the pockets collapse but the mushrooms don't break down because they are basically chitin. Spoon the mushrooms out of the stock that drained during microwaving and they brown right away without getting oily.

 

I'm going to give it a shot. Seems like it may have more or less the same effect as dry-frying the mushrooms before adding to a dish.

[BeeZee]

Seems like the mushroom liquid that comes out during microwaving might be good for saving for soup?

[haresfur]

52 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

Seems like the mushroom liquid that comes out during microwaving might be good for saving for soup?

 

Absolutely. On the show, the guest chef put it into the mushroom risotto he made. 

[rotuts]

@haresfur

 

went back to look at the show you mentioned.

 

indeed  , there are numerous small tips 

 

here and there.

[liuzhou]

My dear friend, a Tujia ethnic minority woman rom Hunan, China, now resident in the USA sent me these. Foraged matsutake from Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington State. She's just trying to make me jealous!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

56 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

My dear friend, a Tujia ethnic minority woman rom Hunan, China, now resident in the USA sent me these. Foraged mushrooms from Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington State. She's just trying to make me jealous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are these "pine mushrooms", aka matsutake? I don't think I have ever seen or eaten one. What are they like? How does your friend prepare them?

[FrogPrincesse]

Here is a very nice mushroom dish I made recently. It's called smoky mushroom kapnista and it's from Zaydinya by Jose Andres (kapnista means smoked in Greek). The mushrooms are browned in a pan with a little bit of hot oil for about 5 minutes, seasoned with salt, then smoked for 30 minutes (I used a Cameron counter-top smoker with cherry wood chips). Then they are added back to the pan with olive oil, dates, and toasted walnuts. Finally they are served over labneh, and garnished with flaky sea salt, chives, and cumin.

 

The smoke reinforced the umami character of the mushrooms and made them irresistible. That dish really surprised me by how delicious it was.

 

Here is more on this technique from his substack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

36 minutes ago, FrogPrincesse said:

 

Are these "pine mushrooms", aka matsutake? I don't think I have ever seen or eaten one. What are they like? How does your friend prepare them?

 

Yes, matsutake. I meant to say so. Will now edit.

American matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare) are a different species from Asian matsutake  (Tricholoma matsutake) and I've only eaten the latter. Reports suggest the Asian are more valued.

 

I don't know how my friend cooks them, but I'll ask.

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I don't know how my friend cooks them, but I'll ask.

 

And I did. She tells me she cooks them in a Chinese style chicken soup or fries them in butter, The latter, she would never have done if she hadn't moved to the USA!