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Overview
An indispensable classic for all those who love mushrooms. Truffles . . . ceps . . . morels, they all conjure visions of one of the most intriguing and subtle of all gastronomic treats. Amateur cooks can feel overwhelmed by the many varieties of mushrooms, and mystified by how best to prepare them, while epicures hunger for new ways to expand their repertoires.
With more than 250 recipes, Jane Grigson describes simple yet sumptuous preparations for all kinds of delectable fresh and preserved mushrooms. Included are helpful tips for selecting and preserving the best edible mushrooms (both wild and cultivated), the folklore behind the recipes, a brief history of mushroom cultivation, guides to distinguishing edible from poisonous fungi for those who venture to pick their own, and line drawings of the twenty-one most common species.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781909808492 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Grub Street |
| Publication date: | 02/20/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Sales rank: | 911,214 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
THE BEST EDIBLE MUSHROOMS
Below I list the cultivated and wild mushrooms best used in cooking either by themselves or as flavouring ingredients.
Poisonous mushrooms are few; but if you are going to collect them from woods and fields and lawns and roadsides, the culinary mushrooms need to be learnt. Recognition is the safeguard. So use a reliable guide with coloured plates. For the money, the most useful and most easily acquired is Collins Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools, by Morten Lange and F. B. Hora (1963) and for the United States The Mushroom Hunter's Field Guide by Alexander H. Smith (University of Michigan Press, 1963) is highly recommended. Some of the very best mushroom illustrations are to be found in the four volumes of the Nouvel Atlas des Champignons by Henri Romagnesi, published by Bordas in 1967 under the auspices of the Société Mycologique de France, and for America the richly illustrated Mushrooms of North America by Orson K. Miller, Jr. (Dutton, 1972).
Many more kinds than I have listed are edible, and a few of them are delicious. I have omitted kinds at all difficult to identify, and also one or two which our mushroom books follow each other in praising too highly. One of these is the Saint George's mushroom (Tricholoma gambosum) of the early summer. People often dislike its mealy scent and taste, though it does, I admit, look exceptionally pure, clean and appetising. Others are the coarse and sturdy blewit or blue-leg (Tricholoma saevum) of late autumn meadows, not as pleasant-flavoured as the slighter wood-blewit (Tricholoma nudum), which I include below, though it is sometimes on sale in shops and on market stalls in the Midland counties; and the rather overenthusiastically named Lactarius deliciosus of conifer woods, an orange mushroom which weeps orange tears.
General preparation of mushrooms
With the exception of morels and of course the dried mushrooms of all kinds, expose mushrooms to water as little as possible. A quick rinse under the tap, or a careful wipe with a clean damp cloth, should be enough. Cut off any blemished parts and the earthy base of the stalks. Do not peel mushrooms.
On the whole, wild mushrooms exude more liquid when exposed to heat than cultivated ones (though this often depends on the season and place where they have been growing). You can start off with the intention of frying them in a little butter, and find that the frying pan is soon overflowing and the mushrooms considerably reduced in size. If this happens, drain off the liquid and use it for soup or a sauce, and start again in a clean pan with a fresh lump of butter. If there is only a moderate amount of liquid, you can get rid of it by raising the heat — but be careful not to overcook the mushrooms. This is a danger with girolles, which always remain slightly chewy, and can be overcooked to toughness.
It follows that you need to allow more wild mushrooms when you are substituting them for cultivated mushrooms in a recipe, though sometimes quantity is compensated for by the extra flavour. Remember, too, that dried mushrooms often have a most concentrated richness, so that what seems at first sight an extravagant purchase turns out in the end to be quite reasonable. I can recommend drying your own mushrooms at home. It's a simple business, as you will see on page 31. The results cannot fail to be successful so long as you always dry perfect, unblemished ones.
On page 66 you will find Jason Hill's basic recipe for all fungi.
All the fungi in the following list, except the truffles and the four species from the Far East, grow in Britain and North America. The illustrations are not for the purpose of identification.
THE CULTIVATED MUSHROOM (Agaricus bisporus)
These are the mushrooms we buy fresh and immature from the greengrocer, and with which most of the recipes in this book are concerned. They come in three grades, according to size: the smallest are known as buttons; the medium-sized as cups; and the largest, most strongly flavoured are known as open or flat mushrooms. Very often the sizes are mixed together, which is not ideal for the cook. Agaricus bisporus is sometimes to be found wild, not in grass, but along roads, even in towns, pushing up between paving stones. Some people reject them under these conditions.
COOKING: Fry, grill or broil, bake. Use in soups, sauces, stuffings, stews. Delicious uncooked in salads, particularly with shellfish.
FIELD MUSHROOM, MEADOW MUSHROOM (Agaricus campestris)
The mushroom, none better, of old meadows and downland. Probably the kind which the Franks of northern France called by a name from which we have 'mushroom,' by way of French. In the sixth century a Greek doctor wrote out some Latin notes on food for Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. "Fungi of all kinds," he told the king, "are heavy and hard to digest. The better kinds are mushrooms (mussiriones) and truffles."
As well to learn the differences (which are considerable) between this kind and the poisonous fungi of the genus Amanita.
COOKING: As for cultivated mushrooms, and, when available, always to be preferred on account of their exquisite flavour; in particular in the following recipes:
Eliza Acton's mushrooms au beurre Mushroom pie Champignons à la crème Field mushroom stew from Holland Champignons farcis Champignons à la bordelaise Aubergines (eggplant) with mushrooms Deep-frozen fish with mushrooms Smoked haddock kulebiaka English game pie Côtes de chevreuil Saint-Hubert
HORSE MUSHROOM (Agaricus arvensis)
A mushroom of pastures, like the field mushroom. The two kinds often grow together. Don't be put off — some people are — by the smell (aniseed), the yellow tint in the cap, and the grey rather than pink colour of the gills.- The horse mushroom is hardly less good to eat than the field mushroom.
COOKING: See field mushroom and cultivated mushroom.
MOREL, MERKEL, SPONGE MUSHROOM (Morchella esculenta and Morchella vulgaris)
Dried or canned, from France, the ingredient of many notable dishes. The commoner, or less uncommon, of the two is M. esculenta. They push up in the spring and are abundant in some years, easily recognizable by their brownish, pitted sponge-like caps.
COOKING: Morels are usually split down the centre, or sliced, so that all sandy grit and earth can be washed from the intricate convolutions. Put a handful of salt into the washing water, in case there are any ants or other creatures lurking in the crevices. Can be fried, but are best cooked à la crème, or with poultry.
Curnonsky's morilles du Jura à la crème A flan of mushrooms or morels à la crème Croûtes aux morilles à la normande Omelette à la provençale Fish meunière aux morilles Ragoût de laitances aux morilles Fillet of beef with morels Ris de veau (d'agneau) à la crème Poulet aux morilles
CEP, CEPE (Boletus edulis)
Known as porcini — piglets — in Italy.
The true cèpe de Bordeaux is Boletus edulis (cèpe from a Gascon word cep, a trunk, because of the fat stem; boletus from the Greek word bolos, a lump: they come up like lumps in the woodlands). Other kinds of Boletus are common and delicious, such as Boletus luteus with a slimy yellow-brown cap and B. granulatus with a slimy reddish-yellow cap. Both have yellow tubes beneath the cap and grow under conifers, especially pines. A few kinds taste bitter, too peppery, or just dull; but all the Boleti are easily distinguished by having crowded tubes instead of gills below the cap. These tubes need not be removed before cooking ceps, so long as they are in good condition. If they look wet and spongy and a little unappetising, it is easy to peel them off, leaving a whitish cap, which cooks to the most delicious, firm, but succulent texture.
The dried ceps of the delicatessens keep their flavour very well, especially the porcini imported from Italy.
COOKING: Fry (olive oil is usually, though not always, preferred to butter), grill or broil, bake. Use in soups, sauces, stuffings, stews. Good as cold hors d'oeuvre, when blanched and pickled in an aromatic marinade. Excellent for home drying. With girolles and morels, ceps are the favourite mushrooms of fine cookery. Ceps can replace cultivated mushrooms in almost every recipe with advantage.
Crème de bolets Mushroom sauce with pasta Ceps and olive stuffing Cèpes à la bordelaise Cèpes sur le gril Risotto ai funghi Escoffier's cèpes à la crème Mushroom loaves Herrenpilze mit paprika Cèpes à la génoise Cèpes au chester Funghi ripieni Funghi porcini al tegame Cèpes farcies Cèpes Brimaud Ceps with potatoes Cep recipes from Apicius Fish meunière aux cèpes Truite au pastis Truite aux cèpes Paupiettes forestières Brains baked with mushrooms and cheese Rognons de veau (d'agneau) panés aux cèpes, sauce Colbert Poultry and game birds stewed with ceps Poulet à la dauphinoise Poularde à la crème, aux cèpes de Revard Salsa di fegatini Confit d'oie à la basquaise Côtes de chevreuil Saint-Hubert
In modern guides to fungi, you will find that some Boletus species have been given different generic names, for instance, B. granulatus and B. lutens, which I have mentioned on page 8, are now properly known as Suillus granulatus and Suillus lutens.
TRUFFLES (Tuber melanosporum, Tuber magnatum)
The classic species, the Périgord (black) truffle (Tuber melanosporum), and the white truffle (T. magnatum) of Piedmontese cookery, are both obtainable in cans. But canning reduces them almost to a rumour of their extraordinary scent and flavour. John Ramsbottom has a splendid chapter on truffles in his Mushrooms and Toadstools (1953), with much about the cook's truffle which is found in England, Tuber aestivum, and how and where to look for it. The naturalist Sir Tancred Robinson, who first described this English truffle in 1693, nicely called truffles a "delicious and luxurious piece of Dainty"— which they are when fresh.
COOKING: Clean fresh Périgord truffles with a small brush to loosen the earth from their skins. Best simmered in dry white wine (champagne is not necessary) and eaten on their own. Slices of raw truffle are added to stuffings, foie gras and pâté, or slipped under a chicken or turkey skin to perfume the flesh beneath whilst showing sombrely through the skin in unmistakable show.
The Piedmont truffle should be cleaned in the same way, but it is not usually cooked, as exposure to heat spoils the flavour. The most one should do is to warm it through in a little butter. The best way to eat it is in thin shavings on pasta, or with a cheese fonduta, or with eggs.
If placed in a covered bowl with some fresh eggs, either the Piedmont or the Périgord truffle will scent them deliciously.
BLACK TRUFFLE RECIPES
Oeufs en cocotte aux truffes Oeufs brouillés aux truffes Omelette aux truffes Truffle recipes from Apicius Longe de porc à la vendômoise Chicken croquettes with mushrooms (or truffle)
Poularde en demi-deuil Poularde Derby Pâté de canard, truffé
WHITE TRUFFLE RECIPES
White truffles with cheese White truffle with egg Bagna cauda Filetti di tacchino bolognese
SHIITAKE (Lentinus edodes)
Dried, from Japan, where it is cultivated on logs of oak and other trees, one of them the shii — so shiitake, "shii mushroom." The Chinese, perhaps the first to cultivate this mushroom, made great use of it.
COOKING: Needs to be soaked in water for about half an hour to soften the cap (the stalks are discarded). Can then be fried, baked with a stuffing, steamed, or substituted for cultivated mushrooms in western dishes, though the flavour is quite different. Much used as a flavouring for steamed fish, red-cooked meat, soups and so on.
Chawan-mushi Norimaki-zushi Tempura Sukiyaki Dobin mushi Tung kua t'ung (winter melon soup)
Chinese steamed fish Red-cooked pork shoulder Stir-fried chicken with mushrooms Chicken stuffed with dried mushrooms and chestnuts Stir-fried Chinese cabbage with mushrooms and bamboo shoots Aubergines (eggplant) à la chinoise Sautéed mushrooms Braised satin chicken
GIROLLE, CHANTERELLE, CHANTRELLE, EGG MUSHROOM (Cantharellus cibarius)
The girolle or chanterelle of French cooking. Dried, in food shops, or canned, but common in deciduous woods, where it shows up yellow as apricots against green moss. It smells of apricot, too. The beauty of the colour is matched by the beauty of its form, a curving trumpet, with delicate ribs running from the stalk through to the under edge of the cap like fine vaulting.
COOKING: Fry in butter with chopped onion or shallot, garlic and parsley (but see general instructions, pages 2–3). Delicious in sauces, and with eggs. An incomparable flavour.
Girolles on buttered toast Girolles à la crème Girolles à la forestière Champignons au madère Girolles with eggs Paupiettes forestières Fillet of beef with girolles Ris de veau (d'agneau) à la crème Poulet, pintadeau ou dindonneau aux girolles
MATSUTAKE (Tricholoma matsutake)
Dried, from Japan, where it grows under pine trees — the matsu, or pine, mushroom. Also canned. It is related to our overpraised Saint George's mushroom (Tricholoma gambosum), already mentioned, and to our wood-blewit (Tricholoma nudum), which can be used instead of matsutake for the recipes listed below.
COOKING: Dried matsutake will need soaking. See the recipes listed below.
Mushrooms grilled with mirin Dobin mushi Matsutake gohan
WOOD EAR (Auricularia polytricha)
Dried, from China, where it is both collected and cultivated. A gelatinous species growing on trees, like the European and North American Jew's ear (Auricularia auricula), which is so common on branches and trunks of elder. Jew's ear (properly the ear of Judas, who by legend hanged himself from an elder) can be used in the same dishes, but it has less flavour.
COOKING: Soak for half an hour, starting with tepid water. Rinse several times, separating the clusters with your fingers, so that the sandy earth and grit and seeds can fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Pig's liver with wood ears Braised satin chicken Pickled cabbage steamed with pork Yuan Mei's bêche-de-mer gourmet
PADI-STRAW MUSHROOM (Volvariella volvacea)
Dried, and sometimes to be had in Chinese stores. Another mushroom grown from early times by the Chinese (on beds of rice straw).
COOKING: Soak 15 minutes in warm water. Used with steamed chicken dishes from southern China.
Steamed chicken with padi-straw (grass) mushrooms
PARASOL MUSHROOM, UMBRELLA MUSHROOM (Macrolepiota procera)
One of the most delicious mushrooms to eat. Stems uphold a scaly parasol with a boss in the middle. They stand up tall and obvious and surprising on grassy hillsides and banks, on sandy sea margins or on cliff tops by the sea. But it is no good picking them if they are dry or leathery.
COOKING: Can be used in most mushroom recipes, like field or cultivated mushrooms. Delicious when fried and served for breakfast with bacon and eggs; or as a vegetable with a cream sauce. A particularly good mushroom for stuffing — fill them with any good mixture (see stuffing recipes), or in English style with sage and onion stuffing, then place them open side down on a greased baking dish. Spear a square of fatty bacon or pork fat on top of each parasol, with a cocktail stick. (When sage and onion stuffing is used, serve them with apple sauce and roast potatoes: this makes a good main course for lunchtime.) Parasol mushrooms are also suitable for drying.
Morilles farcies, en cocotte
FAIRY-RING MUSHROOM, SCOTCH BONNET (Marasmius oreades)
For soups and flavouring. Very common and very good, sometimes found in huge rings of darkened grass. The French bouton de guêtre, "gaiterbutton." The cap rises to a boss.
COOKING: The small size of this mushroom makes it most suitable for soups and sauces, or in stews. Wash as little as possible. A particularly good mushroom for drying.
Recipes for soups and sauces, in particular Sauce au beurre aux amandes, ou aux pistaches
PUFFBALL
No kinds of true puffball are poisonous. All need to be eaten when the flesh is young and appetising, absolutely firm and pure white. The best are the very white giant puffball (Lycoperdon giganteum), the mosaic puffball or engraved puffball (Lycoperdon caelatum), grey-white, warty, shaped like a pear, and the pestle puffball or long-stemmed puffball (Lycoperdon excipuliforme), warty and pestle-shaped.
COOKING: Best cut into slices not more than a quarter-inch thick, then dipped in beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fried in butter.
SHAGGY CAP, SHAGGY MANE, LAWYER'S WIG, INKY CAP (Coprinus comatus)
The name inky cap because these delicate white mushrooms of dung heaps, gardens, and (especially) newly made-up grassy verges of roads autodigest to a black ink. Only to be eaten when decidedly white and clean like a new barrister's wig in an English court.
COOKING: Stew in cream, serve with buttered biscottes or fried croutons. Slice and fry them lightly in butter, then place on top of eggs in buttered ramekins, with their juices, and bake in the oven — a delicious partnership. Particularly good with fish — for instance, fillets of cod, whiting or sole fried in butter; they can be added to the fish as it cooks, or they can be cooked in butter separately if there is not enough room in the pan.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Mushroom Feast"
by .
Copyright © 2007 Sophie Grigson.
Excerpted by permission of Grub Street.
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Table of Contents
CONVERSION CHART,
INTRODUCTION,
THE BEST EDIBLE MUSHROOMS,
PRESERVED MUSHROOMS, SAUCES, STUFFINGS, AND SOUPS,
MUSHROOM DISHES,
MUSHROOMS WITH FISH,
MUSHROOMS WITH MEAT, POULTRY, AND GAME,
THE MAIN MUSHROOMS OF JAPANESE AND CHINESE COOKING,
APPENDIX: FIVE BASIC RECIPES FOR REFERENCE,
INDEX / FOLLOWS PAGE,