Fresh Morel mushrooms

[pufin3]

All the idea's offered look delicious.

I've collected morels etc etc for decades.

Here's my offering:

 Wash well using a fine brush to get into the crevasses

Pat dry. Into a very low saute pan. NO butter NO oil. NO nothing. Allow the mushrooms to give up any moisture in them.

When they seem as dry as they'll get THEN add some clarified butter to the pan and gently saute them until cooked. The mushrooms will absorb the butter like sponges. If you saute any fresh mushroom that hasn't been allowed to give up all its moisture and just add butter and saute the moisture stays in the mushroom and the butter stays outside of the mushroom and the result is a mushy slimy mess. 

Here's the tip for eating any fresh mushroom. Grate on a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of fresh lemon zest. Season Eat.

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[gfweb]

I'm no morel expert, but apparently there are false morels that are toxic. So...

[sparrowgrass]

On 4/27/2016 at 10:41 PM, kayb said:

Bumping this up to ask a morel question, inspired by a photo I saw on Facebook today of morel hunting in Missouri. Since I live some 40 miles south of the MO line, I'm wondering what the area of the country actually is where morels grow. When are they "ripe"? In what kind of terrain/ground cover does one find them? Any tips on morel foraging? I'm contemplating a road trip to the nearest morel hunting lands, should they be nearby. The foothills of the Ozarks are within easy striking distance, and I know people who have hunting land who would have no objection to me hunting life forms which do not move about on four feet.

 

Morels are pretty much over for this year in my part of Missouri (70 miles south of STL).  You have a year to do all your research.

 

[IowaDee]

I'm just three miles north of the Missouri line.  In an good year, this would be prime hunting time but I haven't talked to anyone who has found them Have to remember, however,  that hunting grounds are usually a secret and only told to those near and dear.  Before my in-laws sold the farm, we could find mushrooms by the bag full. The people who bought it, don't let anyone hunt there. We would find so many we  used to soak them in the bathtub.  I have yet to figure out where they grown and why.  One year a bunch came up in the front yard underneath our lilacs.  Never happend again.  I suspect they live for taunting hunters.   Even without much luck, hunting them is almost a rite of spring around here.