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Wild Mushrooms


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Anyone have a good Mexican recipe for wild mushrooms?

Yesterday in the market at Amecameca, I bought a bunch gathered from the woods up the volcanoe -- blue mushrooms (hongos azules) which are seriously strong tasting, almost bitter. Bright orange ones called "enchiladas," Juan Diegitos, which look like portobellos on the top, but are white underneath. And xocoyotlis, that look like clavitos, but are redish-coffee color.

Any ideas would be appreiciated -- I just want to cook them before they start to slime up. Thanks, Will.

Will Thomson

CookingFire.com

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Anyone have a good Mexican recipe for wild mushrooms?

Yesterday in the market at Amecameca, I bought a bunch gathered from the woods up the volcanoe -- blue mushrooms (hongos azules) which are seriously strong tasting, almost bitter. Bright orange ones called "enchiladas," Juan Diegitos, which look like portobellos on the top, but are white underneath.  And xocoyotlis, that look like clavitos, but are redish-coffee color.

Any ideas would be appreiciated -- I just want to cook them before they start to slime up.  Thanks, Will.

Sounds like you have Lactaria indigo ... the first wild mushroom I ever had in Mexico (Zitacuaro, Mich from the market, about this time of year). I was taking classes from Diana Kennedy and we made crepes, roasted some poblanos for rajas, sauteed a wee bit of onion and garlic and the cut up mushrooms. Added the rajas, and then doused them with cream. Simmered that until reduced and thick. Salt, pepper, and then filled the crepes. Hardly major traditional but really divine.

Sauteed like that, but with broth instead of cream added, they make a fine tamal filling. Or, just a plain guiso.

Check out www.mexmush.com. Those are the people I have worked with. In fact, they have just started the Mexican Mycological Society and one of its members, Patricia Perrin, lives around Amecameca. She has a chinchilla farm. She's delightful. Unfortunately those folks mostly forage for mushrooms and groove on identifying them. My main mushrooms-as-food teacher, sadly, died about a year ago, so I am looking for someone else. Check out Cristina Barros and Marco Buenrostro who write the column Itacate for La Jornada ... they have done some pieces on mushrooms and may have included either recipes or mentioned areas known for mushroom cuisine. Also, quiz the market ladies. They're the best souce of all.

Theabroma

Sharon Peters aka "theabroma"

The lunatics have overtaken the asylum

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mush1.jpg

Thanks for the notes -- Amecameca was amazing for me -- both the mushrooms and the other things that I found there. I'm taking on Chiles En Nogada this week, and have already spent about 6 hours taking skin off walnuts. Also, I think I found my favorite candy -- which is a fruit -- something called yalajuilli -- spelling is phonetic (mas o menos) -- which come in green seed pods, and are like sucking on a fur ball, sweet, around a seed -- cotton candy that doesn't disintegrate, a very weird fruit. Anyway, thanks Theabroma for the info on mushrooms. Below are some pics -- mostly of the blue dudes, because they are so different. When I rounded the corner in the market to the mushroom aisle, my jaw dropped.

[ABOVE PHOTO] The marchanta was great -- entertaining all dumb questions. I got a little scared at the big orange one that didn't look like the rest, and started getting worried about wild-mushrrom-poisoning. My boyfriend Carlos elbowed me and told me not to be such a gringo, and indeed the big orange one turned out to be the tastiest of them all. [upper Left: Setas; Lower L: Clavitos; Middle L: Juan Diegitos - that go very soft and slimy on cooking, like shitakis; Middle R: xocoyotlis; and Far L: more setas. I figure that living in Mexico City costs about as much as in the states, but I have to say, that the mushrooms are a bargain, 5 pesos for each little pile -- the whole spread would have only cost 15 bucks. Below are the blues.

mush2.jpg

mush3.jpg

Edited by CookingFire (log)

Will Thomson

CookingFire.com

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Ah Will, you can buy peeled walnuts in the San Juan market. There's just the little question of the price . . .

Wish we had so many mushrooms around here. We'll just have to get by with the seasonal garambullos. That's an invitation to ask what they are,

Rachel

Rachel Caroline Laudan

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This restaurant, near the World Trade Center (in Mexico City, that is) is doing its annual "Festival de Hongos Silvestres" ie. wild mushroom fest. It was fabulous last year when I went. We plan to go next week so I will report on the menu, which of course, has nothing to do with anything Mexican other than the ingredients. There are very few restaurants that take advantage of the wild mushroom season here, which is stupid, and there isn't much written about the culture of them, although I think Diana Kennedy wrote something about them in one of her recent books, didn't she?

Costa Vasca

Lousiana #16, col. Nápoles.

H: Lu-Do de 13 a 00 hrs.

Tel. 5687 4123 Comida vasco-francesa.

H: S a Mi, 13 a 19 hrs; J y V, 13 a 23 hrs.

I buy all kinds at the San Juan market or wherever else I see them. Besides the blue ones, I once bought some red ones, and I mean RED! Last week we got some of the yellow ones which resemble French cepes and just made a sort of braised chicken with them as they are very mild and mustn't be overwhelmed by other ingredients. Sometimes I use them in a risotto. The scary black crinkly ones I don't really like, to be honest, they're terribly strong. Whenever I ask in the market what to do with them, they always seem to say the same thing, ie to the effect of "make a sofrito and cook 'em up". So I go with our French cook friend Fabienne and do what seems natural according to the qualities of the mushrooms.

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There is actually one source on Mexican mushrooms, a book by the poet José Juan Tablada called Hongos mexicanos comestibles, that is, edible Mexican mushrooms. It was published in 1983, years after the author's death in 1945, by one of Mexico's major publishers, Fondo de Cultura Económica. It's been reprinted various times.

It has nice water color illustrations including of the blue mushroom along with various of his haikus dealing with mushrooms. It also includes instructions on how to collect, preserve and cook them. The latter suggestions are based mainly on French and Catalan ways of dealing with the same genera or species. It also tells you how to recognize if you are poisoned and what to do about it.

I'm sure mushroom taxonomy has changed enormously. But this remains a charming and useful book and an insight in the Mexico of the 20s and 30s,

Rachel

Rachel Caroline Laudan

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In case anyone is interested,

R

TALLER

"CONOCE Y DEGUSTA ALGUNOS HONGOS DE LA SIERRA NEVADA"

En este taller se analizarán los hongos desde el punto de vista taxonómico, culinario y de su conservación. Se podrán degustar algunos de ellos y se visitará la Colección Nacional de Micología del Instituto de Biología de la UNAM.

Profesoras: Edelmira Linares, Elvira Aguirre y Teodolinda Balcázar

Dirigido a público en general

Fecha: Miércoles 31 de agosto del 2005

Horario de 10:00 a 15:00 hrs.

Lugar: Jardín Botánico Exterior, IB-UNAM

COSTO DEL MATERIAL: $ 500.00 M.N.

CUPO LIMITADO

Inscripciones:

Del 01 al 26 de agosto del 2005

Horario de atención de 9:00 a l5:00 hrs.

Área de Difusión y Educación

Informes a los tels. 5622-9047 ó 5622-9063

Email: eliah@mail.ibiologia.unam.mx

--

Rachel Caroline Laudan

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