Wild Mushrooms

[Ol'Hippie]

First let me begin by quoting some sage advice "When in doubt, throw it out" & "There are NO old bold wild mushroom hunters" Only eat those that you are absolutely POSITIVE are what you think they are.

Having said that, I am lucky enough to live in the Pacific Northwest, Southern Oregon coast to be exact and we have such a wide variety of wild gourmet mushrooms avaliable it is amazing, Chanterelles, Morels,Boletus,and a new one for me is the Cauliflower, all delicious.

I am wondering if anyone here has recipes for, or experience with wild mushrooms. Any and all information is appreciated, and who know might just find a fellow Fungi hunter on here.

[stringcheese]

Hey, a topic that I feel comfortable enough with to finally quit lurking!! Oh gosh, sure, I have experience with wild mushrooms. In fact, I get to study mushrooms as my (future) career--I'm a grad student in mycology, and I am teaching a course to senior Biology majors this semester.

What kind of info/recipes do you want? I have an entire book of mushroom recipes, written by my advisor's wife. I could share some, if you have any particular requests.

I'm glad to hear you are cautious with identification/eating. Mushroom poisoning is bad news. Some other wild ones that I recommend (as they are good, good, good and easy to identify) are the Sulfur shelf (bright orange shelf fungus) and Hen of the woods.

If you're out West, a good book for collecting is David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified. Good keys for identification, and lots of interesting information, including edibility. Happy hunting!

[Ol'Hippie]

HE-HA I knew I might find a fellow fungi fan. Thanks for the reply, I hope to locate the Sulfur Shelf have heard they are good, and Chicken of the woods too, I have been finding A LOT of Chanterelles and have been drying most of them, Boletus too, I understand they have a better taste when dried. We have a few Oysters but I think they will be more avaliable a little later. Usually we saute' them in butter, made some stuffing the other day and included a cup or two of what we had found earlier in the day, was very good.

I have found some I am having trouble identifying don't know if you would have the time to look at the pictures I took, would have to email them to you I think.

Have heard of that book, will add it to my collection I use the National Audobon field guide and one called Mushrooms by Thomas laessoe and Gary Lincoff.

Again thanks for the reply & keep in touch

[Pan]

Welcome to eGullet, stringcheese.

One caution about posting recipes: As I understand it, eGullet's copyright-protection policy is that recipes cannot be copied directly out of a book or quoted in full directly from a website, but you are permitted to paraphrase the recipes.

[stringcheese]

Thanks for the advice, Pan. I will be sure to just paraphrase any recipes, which the author herself has told me is fine to do. I wouldn't want to cause egullet any trouble!

To be honest, my favorite thing to do with wild mushrooms is just to saute and eat 'em. Especially with a little tamari and garlic. Yum...

[Ol'Hippie]

Hi Stringcheese! I tried to email you but egullet wouldn't let me. Would you mind taking a look at some pics I took of mushrooms I found today? my email is in my profile but this is it too. olhippie@charter.net

I think they are Matsutake, smell like pine and sweet, found in sandy soil under coastal pines with several inches of needles.

[Rachel Perlow]

I posted this in a NJ gardening thread, but thought I might have a better chance of an answer in this one...

I've got this mushroom/fungus growing on one of my Brussels Sprouts plants. Anyone know what it is? edible, poisonous?

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[jsolomon]

I've always been a fan of mushroom risotto with wild ones. Other really good dishes for wild mushrooms are...

Mushroom stroganoff (add a little bit of lavender to really gild the lily)

Mushroom cream gravy (saute mushrooms in butter, add flour for roux, make gravy)--great on biscuits or meat loaf

Mushroom pate (one of the best ways to use morels, in my book)

Rice stir fry (soy sauce, sesame oil, egg, and day old rice)

Mushroom soup (sweat mushrooms, aromatics, and some green leafies, add veg stock, really awesome when dumplings are added)

[Squirrelly Cakes]

No help here but this brings back wonderful memories. My father was quite the expert mushroom picker - which means he picked what he was familar with, never took any chances! But we grew up with baskets of freshly picked wild mushrooms. I can still see my father cleaning these with a paring knife, over sheets of newspaper while sitting at the kitchen table. I don't remember many names, other than Shaggy Manes and towards the later years, a mushroom that looked just like the common button mushrooms sold in supermarkets.

The shaggy manes have a really high water content but Dad used to fry them up in tons of butter and they would become more like a soup. We would eat bowls of these during mushroom season.

Years later a good neighbour would bring me morels from a farm in Petoskey, Michigan. But they were never quite my favourites. Delicious just the same.

Unfortunately, my sister and I never accompanied him on these expeditions, so we never learned where to look or more importantly, what to look for. But thanks for triggering the memories!

Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

[coquus]

Sorry Rachel, I saw loads of them on Monday, but they were full of bugs, so I left them. If stringcheese is around it might have an answer for you.

I recently ran into the Old Man of the Woods, well met, and noticed some Hedgehogs (I think, the ones with the icicles) coming up in the familiar spot. The Chanterelles are giving their last hurrahs.

[ludja]

I've only picked wild mushrooms in Austria with experienced mushroom-picking relatives. Here are two simple but delicious preps for chantereles (Eierschwamm or "egg mushrooms" in Austria" and "Buetzlilng" (I'm guessing on the spelling via the pronunciation as the dialect is strong in Burgenland and I've never seen it written). "Buetzling" are porcini mushrooms.

For chanterelles, the classic prep in that neighborhood is to sautee them in butter and incorporate into "Eierspeise" an Austrian egg dish that is halfway between an omelette and scrambled eggs. So, one would sautee the chopped chanterelles in plenty of butter. Lightly beat 3 eggs in a bowl with some salt and pepper and maybe some chopped chives or parsley. Pour the eggs into the pan with the mushrooms and let it cook until the eggs set a little bit. Lightly break up the eggs in the pan--the whites should still be discernable and cook a little bit longer. Take off the heat while the eggs are still moist. Some of my relatives who still lived on a farm would often serve this up as a special first course if they had picked some chanterelles in the morning.

A terriffic prep for porcini that is popular there and is served in many casual "Gasthaus" (pub/country Austrian bistro) is to bread and pan fry/deep fry them. The breading is a the same as for a Wienerschnitzel, ie. seasoned flour, egg, dry bread crumbs. They are served with a tartar sauce and a lemon for squeezing. The absolute luxury of biting into a juicy, breaded hot porcini is amazing.

[PatyGirl]

Ummmm... I desperately want to bite into a juicy, breaded hot porcini! That sounds amazing!

Mushrooms are so brilliant. You guys are very, very lucky to live in places where you can go picking.

[coquus]

Yes, very true.

I was just wondering as well what mushrooms do you refer to as Porcini? It's a simple question really, just that there are so many tasty Boletes out there, are they all legitimate Porcini, or just the Boletus Edulis, aka Cepe, Steinpilz or what have you. I have seen bags of "Porcini" that had many varieties of Boleti listed or as they say here in America, Boletes. Though I'm not sure, I think the Latin 101 student would disagree with the Anglicized pluralization.

[ludja]

Thank you for reminding me of the proper name for Cepes in German: Steinpilze!

I did some searching around and learned that the spelling of the Burgenland/Styria dialect Austrian word for Steinpilze is "Pilzling"---quite a bit different than what to my ears has been "Buetzling" all these years.... I guess the word stems from "pilze" in "Steinpilze" and has the diminuative, "ling" added to the end of it.

web page with some dialect equivalents in Styria: http://www.seffcheque.com/page6.html

A rather arcane bit of information for most, but I wanted to correct what I had written in the earlier post.

[coquus]

ludja, dich Steiriche?

Sorry, that's all the German I know. They do have a funny way of talking funny there, just like the most famous Styrian, here in the US anyway, your governor Arnold. I have been to Graz, a very beautiful place, I have many fond memories of taking the subway to Jakominoplatz and walking north to the next platz were they have the sausages, then walking back and stopping for Eis (ice cream) at the place on the left. For a place that is relatively removed from everything Graz has some of the best cooks.

[coquus]

Rachel, I didn't see the one we saw in there exactly, though I'm not sure, a couple looked similar, but not very, and they were all inedible, a good book for those of us in the Northeastern US and Canuckia (as far west as the Dakotas and as far south as Tennessee) is Mushrooms of Northeastern North America by Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette, and David W. Fischer, it's the most expensive on that I found on Amazon as well at around fifty bucks, but worth every penny. This years North American Boletes, by the same authors minus Fischer, plus William C. Roody is a similar prize for a similar price but covers all of North America.

[SeanDirty]

HE-HA I knew I might find a fellow fungi fan. Thanks for the reply, I hope to locate the Sulfur Shelf have heard they are good, and Chicken of the woods too, I have been finding A LOT of Chanterelles and have been drying most of them, Boletus too, I understand they have a better taste when dried. We have a few Oysters but I think they will be more avaliable a little later. Usually we saute' them in butter, made some stuffing the other day and included a cup or two of what we had found earlier in the day, was very good.

I have found some I am having trouble identifying don't know if you would have the time to look at the pictures I took, would have to email them to you I think.

Have heard of that book, will add it to my collection I use the National Audobon field guide and one called Mushrooms by Thomas laessoe and Gary Lincoff.

Again thanks for the reply & keep in touch

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If you have the mushroom guide you should also get the Tree guide. When you look for wild mushrooms you just dont simply stare at the ground and walk. Mushrooms are somewhat tempermental, they grow under the right conditions, and most mushrooms only grow under certain trees, so the Tree guide is most important, it is also the National Audobon Field guide for trees.

Good luck huntin!

[coquus]

If you have the mushroom guide you should also get the Tree guide.  When you look for wild mushrooms you just dont simply stare at the ground and walk.

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I'll second that advice, I don't have one and I should. But you should mostly stare at the ground and walk, the trees are helpful firstly if you know what you are out looking for such as the most obvious Chanterelles and Birch Trees, and secondly if you need some help with identification sometimes it helpful to know what kind of trees they are growing around or on, sometimes it's impossible to know as those trees are long dead. I found my first Ceasar's Amanita yesterday, and will be eating it shortly, it is the first Amanita I have found that I know is an edible.

Edited August 11, 2006 by coquus (log)

[ludja]

ludja, dich Steiriche?

Sorry, that's all the German I know.  They do have a funny way of talking funny there, just like the most famous Styrian, here in the US anyway, your governor Arnold.  I have been to Graz, a very beautiful place, I have many fond memories of taking the subway to Jakominoplatz and walking north to the next platz were they have the sausages, then walking back and stopping for Eis (ice cream) at the place on the left.  For a place that is relatively removed from everything Graz has some of the best cooks.

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My mom is from there and my grandparents live there so I've been to visit a bit and can understand dialect. It *is* a beautiful city that is off the beaten track for many, at least US, tourists to Austria. I've been in the area of Graz you describe; I'm trying to remember which direction is north, but a block or so from the Jakominiplatz is the Opera House and the city's main farmer's market. Sausages and Eis, yum!

(My mon did actually know Arnold when he was a kid; they were among a group of kids who went ice skating and swimming at a lake right outside Graz! My mom doesn't sound like him normally but she can do a mean Terminator impression much to people's amusement!)

[coquus]

My mom is from there and my grandparents live there so I've been to visit a bit and can understand dialect. It *is* a beautiful city that is off the beaten track for many, at least US, tourists to Austria. I've been in the area of Graz you describe; I'm trying to remember which direction is north, but a block or so from the Jakominiplatz is the Opera House and the city's main farmer's market. Sausages and Eis, yum!

(My mon did actually know Arnold when he was a kid; they were among a group of kids who went ice skating and swimming at a lake right outside Graz! My mom doesn't sound like him normally but she can do a mean Terminator impression much to people's amusement!)

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I would really like to see that!

It's such an old city, it's really easy to get turned around, but, damn, I think it's Hauptplatz looking at the map. I don't remember a farmers market. I dunno it was about twelve years ago. I remember my favorite was Kazekreiner mit semmel und Sleisen or something meaning sliced. I also loved the other kind of Austrian restaurant, whatever they were called, a little bit fancier than Gasthaus, but also good solid fare. I remember green beans, potato salad, and pumpkin seed oil as well as great tiramisu and pizza margarita. I love that stuff so much, schlagobers.

[Rachel Perlow]

I posted this in a NJ gardening thread, but thought I might have a better chance of an answer in this one...

I've got this mushroom/fungus growing on one of my Brussels Sprouts plants. Anyone know what it is? edible, poisonous?

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I sent some pictures to a bunch of mycologists I found online, and the best guess of the two who've replied so far is that it is Meripilus giganteus – The Black-Staining Polypore. It's edible, but better when young.

[coquus]

I posted this in a NJ gardening thread, but thought I might have a better chance of an answer in this one...

I've got this mushroom/fungus growing on one of my Brussels Sprouts plants. Anyone know what it is? edible, poisonous?

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I sent some pictures to a bunch of mycologists I found online, and the best guess of the two who've replied so far is that it is Meripilus giganteus – The Black-Staining Polypore. It's edible, but better when young.

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It was in my book, I overlooked it leafing through. There it's called the same common name but it's Meripilus sumstinei, the pores bruise black when you touch them, or when it gets old. I tell you what, that one is quite a bit younger than the ones I've seen this year.

[fungi_provider]

For outdoor enthusiasts that enjoy gathering their own culinary delights, nothing that I know of can be more rewarding than mushroom hunting.

I've hunted for all kinds of wild animals, and although I enjoy eating game, I long ago sold my rifles, bows and guns, and opted for mushrooming.

Most anywhere can provide mushroom hunting experiences.

North America is excellent for mushrooming and i have friends from California, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin as well as Canada that all enjoy it as much as I do.

Field guides are a must. I own 20 at least.

And with the internet, as Rachel found out, getting a particular fungus ID'd is a lot simpler than it could be otherwise. However, I would never take any one persons word in identifying a mushroom for the table.

Eating wild mushrooms is something I do almost every day.

Last night was chanterelles and shrimp with capers sauteed in olive oil and butter, deglazed with some lemon juice and water and reduced.

In learning edible mushrooms, one must also learn the poisonous few.

Sorry to be repetitive, and somewhat rambling, but we mushroom folk are somewhat "strange" by most others definitions, and besides, promoting mushroom hunting is what I live to do.

[tino27]

My roommate thought I had lost my mind when I spent fifteen minutes yammering about the fact that I had found fresh morels at my farmer's market. I'm not sure which contributed more to his thought that I had gone mad -- that I could talk about them for 15 minutes straight or that I paid $9 for a 1/4 pound of them.

However, I became sane again after he ate the seared strip steak with a morel cream sauce I served to him later that day. I think he finally understood why I was so excited.

Although not fresh wild mushrooms, per se, another trick I've used in the past is to use a coffee grinder to grind up dried porcini mushrooms until they are a powder. Then I salt and pepper a nice flank steak and rub the porcini powder into the meat before searing it. Quite delicious!

Edited August 22, 2006 by tino27 (log)

[coquus]

  Sorry to be repetitive, and somewhat rambling, but we mushroom folk are somewhat "strange" by most others definitions, and besides, promoting mushroom hunting is what I live to do.

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Hey, in your picture, is that a gilled mushroom?