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

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Beefsteak Mushroom Relish

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Beefsteak mushrooms

Beefsteak

Cutting up my first beefsteak mushroom (Fistulina hepatica) was a mess. My cutting board looked like a murder scene, my hands were tacky and red, there was sticky trim scraped off of the knife in little piles around the board. In the end though, I did get a nice pile of dice from it to make the relish recipe I could see in my mind after I tasted it for the first time.

After I made a simple salad with them I enjoyed, I saw some other potential. The mushrooms were good raw, but less assertive than I thought they would be: they needed a little help, just a touch of acid. The sour flavor is really novel with them, and absolutely worth experimenting with, as it’s not often mushrooms in their natural state scream to become a condiment, or eaten raw.

beefsteak mushroom relish

Here’s a basic idea: gently enhance the sour flavor of the mushrooms with a marinade that’s low on the acid, let them sit for 24 hours, then put them on stuff. It works, and there was a bonus effect. I love bonus effects. The juice of the beefsteaks is red, but I didn’t know what would happen to the color of the juice as the acid of the lemon gently cooked it.

I guessed that high heat and searing would change the composition of the juice to no longer be red, or just evaporate juice out of the mushroom to the point where it was juice-less. Keeping it raw though, could be a good experiment. Salt draws out water, and keeping the mushrooms in a wet atmosphere meant that the juice that flowed out of the mushrooms stayed red, blood red, and I was happy.

The relish recipe is delicate. You could add herbs to it, but I would keep them mild ones: parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil, would all be good. What I have for you here is a relish that tries to be pure and honor the beefsteak, it’s nothing more than some lemon juice, a pinch of salt, some great olive oil, shallot, and mushrooms. Sometimes less is more, you know? It goes without saying that it would be a shame not drizzle the blood-red juice over things that you use it on. Refer to the picture of cornmeal crusted whitefish with the relish I have pictured as an example.

beefsteak mushroom relish

beefsteak mushroom relish
Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes

Beefsteak Mushroom Relish 

A quick method for preserving beefsteaks for a few days, if you want to preserve them for longer, increase the quantities of oil and switch the lemon juice to a mild vinegar like rice or champagne since they have a controlled PH (more reliable for hermetic storage). 
Course: Snack
Keyword: Beefsteak mushroom, relish
Servings: 1 cup

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup beefsteak mushrooms diced 1/4 inch
  • 1 tablespoon shallot diced 1/4 inch
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 cracks of the pepper mill
  • Squeeze of fresh lemon juice to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

  • In a non-reactive bowl, like a stainless steel salad bowl, combine the salt and the shallot and let sit for 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, oil, pepper and lemon juice and combine.
  • Refrigerate until needed.
  • The relish will keep under refrigeration for 5 days.

Seared whitefish with beefsteak mushroom relish

Whitefish crusted with cornmeal, wilted greens and beefsteak relish

Related

Previous Post: « Nasturtium Salad with Milkcaps and Shrimp
Next Post: WildFed: The Pigeon Hunt »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael Norris

    October 10, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    5 stars
    No wild mushrooms should be eaten raw.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 10, 2020 at 3:42 pm

      Michael. Just like meat, most mushrooms, especially wild, should not be eaten raw. But, to say that no wild mushrooms should ever be eaten raw ignores thousands of years of ethnobotanical evidence of consumption across the globe, along with cultural traditions, like porcini salad in Italy, Amanita Caesarea in France, and Raw matsutake salad in Japan.

      If you’re referring to the argument against raw mushroom consumption because mushrooms contain chitin, that’s not going to work either. It’s possible for humans to eat things purely for pleasure, or for other reasons, and just because we can’t digest all or part of something (there’s probably nutrients we get from mushrooms besides indigestible fiber) doesn’t mean that we should say it shouldn’t be eaten. Take corn for example, we can’t digest corn unless it’s been nixtamalized, but that doesn’t stop millions of people from eating it every summer.

      Basically, most wild mushrooms should not be eaten raw, but some can be excellent prepared like that. At your house, do what you want, but here, science co-exists with human culinary history and tradition.

      Reply
  2. Jacqui

    October 20, 2020 at 6:49 am

    Flooded with beefsteaks! Almost every tree in the mixed oak-chestnut woodlot on my university campus that I walk through every day on the way to work (am I lucky or am I lucky) seems to sport a beefsteak shroom this year. I continue to be disappointed in my search for maitake, to the extent that I wonder if there is some kind of antagonism, such that if the beefsteaks are in possession the maitake can’t establish or won’t show up… but I am happy enough with the beefsteaks. We have eaten a fair bit of beefsteak-mushroom carpaccio, just sliced raw with salt and mushroom- and garlic infused olive oil (reclaimed from the confit of black staining polypore), The beefsteak-mushroom stroganoff was very very good. In fact, it might have been the best. Tonight the vegan son will make beefsteak-mushroom fried rice and I will make this relish to top little sweet potato canapes with avocado. I think it will complement nicely.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 20, 2020 at 8:24 am

      Jacqui, I found one tiny one this year and I was ecstatic. It hasn’t been a good year for maitake for me either, I found a few, but we didn’t get the rain we needed, and my large trees gave only small mushrooms. Stroganoff sounds good.

      Reply
  3. Jana Harris

    July 27, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you for your inspiration. I found my very 1st beefsteak this past Sunday and I had to try it. I made this relish and had it today on a sandwich with some ham. This is wonderful way to use unusual mushroom that tastes great raw. I did use rice vinegar to keep this longer in the fridge and also some more olive oil. It tastes refreshing and super tasty! thanks, for sharing these!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      July 29, 2021 at 10:21 am

      Glad it worked for you Jana.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Beefsteak Fungus: The Woodworker’s Treasure says:
    November 24, 2020 at 10:58 am

    […] Forager Chef (2020) Beefsteak Mushroom Relish. Retrived from https://foragerchef.com/beefsteak-mushr… […]

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Alan Bergo
Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of t Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of the plant, besides the pods in my opinion. They need to be cooked to be edible. 

I only pick from common milkweed in areas where there’s very large colonies. 

I leave some buds to flower on each plant, I also avoid any tops that have insects or monarch caterpillars. Plenty of food to go around. 

#milkweedisafoodplant #foraging #milkweedbuds #asclepiassyriaca
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
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