Cooking Matsutake Mushrooms

[Chris Amirault]

Not only would my partner's grandmother put most of us to shame while hiking around her native far northern California; she's found her way into her grandson-in-law's heart this late fall. Yes, I just received via next-day air a nicely sized box of freshly foraged matsutake mushrooms.

I have never eaten or prepared these particular kind of mushrooms before, and doing a search here I found hits throughout many fantastic restaurant threads, most notably Alinea. I also discovered a lot of hits in the Japan threads. Finally, I learned that this little cache probably would cost me a pretty penny, so I'd rather not try any dumb-ass experiments that ruin the precious littles. However, there are few recipes to be found around here (or, at least, I didn't find many of them).

So I turn to you for ideas. Do you have any Japanese matsutake rice dishes to suggest? What about dry-fried as a stuffing for free-form ravioli? How about simple stuff: roasted to serve with chicken or steak, say, or tossed into a polenta or risotto?

[tb86]

Just cut into quarters depending on the size

get a sautee pan and some oil , heat until smoking , sear , cook until tender throw in some thyme and a clove of garlic a little butter salt and your done.

[wattacetti]

I guess it's a good idea not to let people know where you live; people I know who foraged for these things in Western Canada had to stop because of the mushroom poachers trying to supply the demand in Asia.

I've only have matsutake a couple of times: grilled (plain and mixed with rice) and also sliced into dashi for a mushroom soup.

You could always look for old episodes of Iron Chef where matsutake were the featured ingredient for some sort of inspiration. I'm watching the one with Masamitsu Takahashi (vs Sakai). Salad with daikon, tempura, dobin-mushi soup, raw, straight charcoil broiling, matsutake and lobster soup, steamed with tilefish, and duck.

[miladyinsanity]

Slice and use some in stirfries. I'm not sure how the texture compares to other ways of cooking, since the only mushrooms I eat are enoki mushrooms, but that's how an aunt of mine does it.

[sanrensho]

IMO, the purest way to enjoy matsutake is in a suimono (clear broth) or as matsutake gohan (matsutake rice). Both preparations will allow you to fully capture and enjoy the aroma of matsutake, which infuses itself into the broth or rice.

Distant third would be wrapping in parchment paper and steaming with some butter.

Above all, I would urge you to keep it simple and avoiding adding any sauces. Stir-frying matsutake would be a complete waste, in my opinion. Oven roasting also strikes me as a waste, because all that aroma is just going escape. Grilling at the table would be nice because you can still enjoy the aroma while eating.

Another traditional prep is in a chawanmushi (savory custard). Again, the idea is to capture all that aroma and let it infuse into the custard.

Edited December 14, 2005 by sanrensho (log)

[JasonTrue]

I usually like them best thinly sliced, grilled until golden-brown at the edges, seasoned with salt or shouyu or both. Butter, olive oil, or simple neutral vegetable oils are all quite nice. A little fresh sudachi or yuzu, squeezed ever so slightly onto the matsutake at the table, adds a nice sappari contrast.

Alternatively, whole or quartered mushrooms grilled atop an oak-charcoal burning grill with a simple shouyu-based dipping sauce.

I would use the open-gill matsutake for this, but I had a nice hot soba dish made with a matsutake-infused kakejiru (seasoned broth). It was a clever way for a little soba shop to turn a humble 900 yen dish into a 1900 yen one . They may have used some dried matsutake for the base note, as one would do with a shiitake-konbu based dashi.

Doubinmushi is also nice... a simmered suimono served in a small clay pot (like a 180 ml teapot), perhaps with other vegetables such as mizuna, and lighter flavored mushrooms like enoki or shimeji.

Assari or sappari is best: simple and light, or simple and refreshing.

[russ parsons]

those are all excellent suggestions, of course. but do be aware that the matsutake has a distinctly different flavor than what you may be expecting. most "european" mushrooms veer toward the earthy (porcini, truffles, etc). matsutakes are much more piney, even resinous, with a hint of something cheesy, almost brie-like. mushroom good david arora describes the flavor as a combination of red-hots and gym socks.

[Chris Amirault]

So, Russ, based on that, what would you recommend? Thanks, everyone else, too!

[johnnyd]

david arora describes the flavor as a combination of red-hots and gym socks.

Friends in the mountains of maine gave me a pile of these a couple years ago. I followed a recipe on-line that seemed very respectful and definitely brought out that wonderful gym-sock flavor.

I prepared a hot dashi with a touch of miso and chopped scallion, then sliced them in thin wafers. I let the soup sit for a little bit and served.

Also minced them and added it to a pot of jasmine rice, top with a scattering of scallion

This website is a group of pickers in the NorthWest. Find the buy/pick message forum and poke around for the good stories.

I saw one mention that just dipping them in tamari/soy is great.

[Chris Amirault]

Well, after all that, I cranked the oven to 450F, trimmed and cut them into quarters, tossed them with EVOO and salt, and roasted them briefly.

Gym socks? Imagine you have a seriously pleasurable foot fetish and an athlete and on whom you have a massive crush gives you his or her Gold Toes. It's that kind of gym sock experience. Yow.

[Ken]

Might I reccomend Johns Locker Stock from Rogue brewery as a beverage choice. It has an uncanny resemeblance to Matsutake.