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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Basic Dryad Saddle / Pheasant Back Broth

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Dryad saddle or pheasant back mushroom broth recipeAfter morel season as we get into summer, the pheasant back / dryad saddle / Cerioporus squamosus will still be out, not in the staggering numbers we see during the height of the late spring season, but still out and plentiful.

They’re not spring mushrooms though, and finding tender, succulent ones is far more difficult at this stage in the game.  If you can get your knife through them, you can always dry and dehydrate them, but another great thing to do with them is make some good stock or broth, especially for making things like my favorite DIY pheasant back ramen.

A simple pheasant back broth recipe doesn’t require a lot time, ingredients, or skill–it’s easy. The best part is that you don’t need tender mushrooms either since even the most giant mushrooms you find can still make a great broth, as long as they can be cut with a knife, torn, or otherwise broken up.

Wild edible pheasant back or dryad saddle mushrooms

These mushrooms are too young for broth, but you can use the woody stems.

Keeping your broth clear 

You can pulverize them in a food processor too, but know that your broth will end up a bit more cloudy. Oh, and the flavor’s great too. If you or someone you know doesn’t care for the tell-tale farinaceous scent of watermelon rind or cucumber, making some simple mushroom stock or broth with them mellows that flavor out.

Crockpot Stock and Bone Broth

A slow cooker will help you make the clearest broth.

Just make sure to cook them a bit beforehand (I roast them, but you could also sweat or steam them). The flavor of the finished broth will be simply mushroomy, and you’d be hard pressed to say that it was made with only pheasant backs, for better or worse.

It’s great used as the base for a simple soup, braise, simple sauces, or wherever mushroom flavor would be welcome.

Enoki mushroom ramen with chicken, lobster stock and pork belly

Add some galangal, lime leaves, lemongrass and soy to your mushroom broth for the ultimate ramen.

Adjusting the recipe to your taste / needs 

This is just a simple wild mushroom broth recipe, and you can adapt it to your needs, with whatever ingredients you have on hand. I like a little ginger in mine, especially if I’m going to be using the broth to make pheasant back ramen, which is delicious but feel free to change up the seasonings a bit if you like, keeping in mind the following 

  • If you think about adding carrots, think again. Carrots are very sweet, and can overpower the mushroom flavor and add too much sugar. If I do add them to mushroom broths, I add a very small amount, or just a whole, uncut carrot. 
  • You can do this in a slow-cooker, and it’s one of the best ways to make a good, crystal-clear broth. 
  • You can scale this with a little math for whatever amount you’d like to make. 
  • Do not add too much water or you’ll make a weak broth. Pay close attention to the measurements here. 
Removing the tough stem from a cryad saddle or pheasant back mushroom

Removing the woody stem. The stem, or older, tough mushrooms are what you want to use here. If you have a lot, which is possible, you can just plop the whole thing, cut into pieces into the pot though. 

Using the finished broth 

This is a nice, mild mushroom broth, and it’s so versatile and easy to make. Here’s what I do with the finished product. 

  • Use it as the base of a soup or stew, such as cream of mushroom soup. 
  • If you add some crushed galangal, lime leaves, and lemongrass, with some soy sauce at the end, it will be an incredible ramen broth. 
  • Drinking broth. I like to drink broths too, especially when I’m sick. Add some lemon juice or zest to a warm cup of broth, along with salt and pepper to taste. 
  • The broth can be good all by itself, used as a vehicle for pasta or dumplings, as below. If you make a nice clear broth, show it off! 
  • Serve the broth with some rice, wilted greens like nettles, and thinly shaved, pheasant backs for a simple, light soup. 

Venison braunshweiger dumplings in broth

Dryad saddle or pheasant back mushroom broth recipe
Print Recipe
4 from 6 votes

Basic Pheasant Back Stock / Broth

A simple broth made from Cerioporus squamosus mushrooms. Makes about 8 cups.
Prep Time10 mins
Course: Side Dish, Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Dryad Saddle Mushroom

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs pheasant back mushrooms cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 rib of celery chopped
  • 1 small onion halved
  • A few cloves of garlic whole
  • 1 inch piece fresh ginger whole
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 100 oz water roughly 12-13 cups, just enough to barely cover the mushrooms and vegetables
  • Small handful of fresh herbs like chives, parsley, green onion, cilantro, thyme, etc (optional)
  • 2 oz 1/4 cup cooking oil

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F. Toss the mushrooms with the oil, lay out on a baking sheet, and cook for 30 minutes. This will calm the watermelon flavor of the mushrooms and bring out more mushroom-y notes in the finished broth.
  • Combine all the ingredients except the salt and bring to a simmer (you just want enough water to barely cover the ingredients) then turn down the heat to as low as possible and cook for 1-2 hours. This is a good thing to do in a slow cooker.
  • Cool, strain, add the salt, whisk to dissolve, then refrigerate.
  • The broth will last for at least a week, and likely longer as it doesn’t include meat. Salt is added to extend the shelf life.

More 

Dryad’s Saddle or Pheasant Back Mushroom

Related

Previous Post: « The Wild Harvest | Episode 2: Late Spring
Next Post: Andy’s Morel and Ramp Spaghetti »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laurie

    May 12, 2022 at 11:51 am

    Could this be pressure canned like chicken broth?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 13, 2022 at 10:06 am

      Pressure canned, yes, of course.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Dryad’s saddle potato soup! – Seeking Willows says:
    May 13, 2022 at 9:17 am

    […] I made the broth. I’m following this recipe: Basic pheasant back broth– with a few changes. I didn’t have fresh ginger or celery, so I used celery seed and […]

    Reply

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Alan Bergo
Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each instead of the pound. 

Good day today, although my Twin Cities spots seem a full two weeks behind from the late spring. 2 hours south they were almost all mature. 

76 for me and 152 for the group. Check your spots, and good luck! 

#morels #murkels #mollymoochers #drylandfish #spongemushroom #theprecious
The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natu The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natural secretion of water I typically see with plants. 

I understand it as an indicator that the mushrooms are growing rapidly, and a byproduct of their metabolism speeding up. If you have some clarifications, chime in. 

Most people know it from Hydnellum 
peckii-another polypore. I’ve never seen it on pheasant backs before.

Morels are coming soon too. Mine were 1 inch tall yesterday in the Twin Cities. 

#guttation #mushroomhunting #cerioporussquamosus #pheasantback #naturesbeauty
Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a grocery store. 

#groceryshopping #sochan #rudbeckialaciniata #foraging
Italian wild food traditions are some of my favori Italian wild food traditions are some of my favorite. 

Case in point: preboggion, a mixture of wild plants, that, depending on the reference, should be made with 5-23 individual plants. 

Here’s a few mixtures I’ve made this spring, along with a reference from the Oxford companion to Italian food. 

The mixture should include some bitter greens (typically assorted asters) but the most important plant is probably borage. 

Making your own version is a good excercise. Here they’re wilted with garlic and oil, but there’s a bunch of traditional recipes the mixture is used in. 

Can you believe this got cut from my book?!

#preboggion #preboggiun #foraging #traditionalfoods
Oh the things I get in the mail. This is my kind Oh the things I get in the mail. 

This is my kind of tip though: a handmade buckskin bag with a note and a handful of bleached snapping turtle claws. 😁😂 

Sent in by Leslie, a reader. 

Smells like woodsmoke and the cat quickly claimed it as her new bed. 

#buckskin #mailsurprise #turtleclaws #thisimylife #cathouse
Bluebell season. Destined for a Ligurian ravioli Bluebell season. 

Destined for a Ligurian ravioli as a replacement for the traditional borage greens. 

#mertensiavirginica #virginiabluebells #spring #foraging
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