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All Things Mushroom


liuzhou

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

 

Kidney and liver problems show up late and sneaky. 

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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.

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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.

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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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 by Nancy in Pátzcuaro (log)

Formerly "Nancy in CO"

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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.

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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.

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It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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

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"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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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. 

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It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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