• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FORAGER | CHEF

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

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other Mushrooms
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Huitlacoche
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Hedgehogs
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Honey Mushrooms
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Ramps and Onions
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
      • Spruce and Conifers
      • Pollen
      • Prickly Ash
      • Bergamot / Wild Oregano
      • Spicebush
      • Golpar / Cow Parsnip
      • Wild Carraway
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged Animals
      • Venison
      • Small Game
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal and Organ Meat Recipes
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • Field, Forest Feast (The Wild Harvest)
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts / Interviews
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Brussels Sprouts With Pickled Hen Of The Woods

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushroomsBrussels sprouts have come a long way. When I was growing up they were sort of a mystery. I remember eating them only once as a child and I didn’t like them one bit. I can still recall people talking about eating them like they were some form of torture.

Slimy, soft, and stinky are adjectives that come to mind. When overcooked, they can be all of these things. If you’ve been to a farmer’s market and seen the grandeur that is an entire stalk of Brussels still attached to the stem though you may have a different opinion, I sure do.

I think a big reason for the paradigm shift people have had about Brussels is due to how they’re prepared. It used to be that you might heat them in some butter until they are falling apart, which tends to make vegetables in the cabbage family stinky. Now when they’re served in restaurants, chefs know that when sliced in half, cooked from raw, and caramelized in some fat, they become delicious, nutty and irresistible.

With our cool climate in Minnesota, we get Brussels after the snow falls for a bit. When they’re around and we have enough of them, one of my favorite ways to serve them is as a side dish. They’re very popular, especially if you throw a little pork in the mix.

Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushrooms
Place the Brussels cut side down in the bacon fat.
Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushrooms
When they are browned and soft, add the bacon back.

With all the richness of cabbage cooked in fat and tossed with bacon, you need something to lighten the Brussels and make them easier to eat. This is where a little acid makes the dish come alive. Just a shot of apple cider vinegar will do the trick, but If I’m feeling creative I might reach for some fun pickles to add. Any kind of pickled vegetable like onions or fiddlehead ferns could work really, but some mushrooms are a shoe in with flavors like cabbage and pork. You could choose any variety of pickled mushroom you like, but hen of the woods have an awesome texture so It’s fun to showcase them here.

Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushrooms

 

Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushrooms
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Brussels Sprouts with Pickled Hen of the Woods

Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Brussels sprouts, Hen of the woods mushroom

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Brussels Sprouts roots trimmed and scored with an X, then halved
  • 3 tbsp bacon fat reserved from the cooked bacon
  • 1/2 cup pickled hen of the woods chopped, plus 2 tbsp of their pickling liquid (basic recipe for pickled hens here)
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter optional
  • 8 oz slab bacon diced into half inch cubes

Instructions

  • In a saute pan large enough to accommodate the Brussels sprouts, render the bacon on medium heat until it has released it's fat and is crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and reserve.  Place the Brussels sprouts cut side down in the pan with the fat and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook the Brussels sprouts until golden brown and caramelized and tender about 5 minutes, depending on size.
  • The Brussels will soak up a lot of the fat. If the pan looks like it's getting dry and the sprouts are in danger of burning, add the unsalted butter to cool the pan and flavor them. (This is optional, but a treat)
  • Add the hen of the woods to the pan with the Brussels and heat through along with a tbsp or so of their pickling liquid to taste, just to make it sparkle a bit. Serve immediately.

Notes

A little trick to cooking Brussels sprouts is to score the bottom of them with a knife creating an X; it helps them to cook quickly, and evenly. After they are scored on the bottom, cut them in half.  See a video of this technique here.

More 

Hen of the Woods or Maitake Mushroom

Brussels sprout with pickled hen of the woods mushrooms

 

Related

Previous Post: « Paw-Paw Pudding
Next Post: Ramp Jam »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dan Farmer

    April 29, 2014 at 10:34 am

    Brussels sprouts are one of my favorite veggies today, but like you, I couldn’t stand them as a kid. Recently, thinking that it would be more convenient than buy fresh sprouts, I bought a package of frozen ones. That was a huge mistake! That may be why we didn’t like them as kids… these were slimy and bitter and inedible. I hate to throw food away, but there was no way to salvage those nasty little cabbages!

    I totally agree with you: caramelized, with chunks of bacon, maybe garlic (hmmm… ramps?) is the way to go, in my book.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      April 29, 2014 at 10:39 am

      It takes a lot of prep to make them for a side dish! Thats what interns are good for though, and it’s worth it. Yeah freezing has this quasi-cooking effect on things, really bad for Brussels.

      Reply
  2. Diane

    May 3, 2014 at 6:57 pm

    Ate at Heartland last night but missed You. I Have some questions regarding mushroom classes. Could you email me? Thanks. Dinner was great and it was fun seeing Tony as we knew him from Signature.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 4, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      Hi Diane, yeah Tony is a really great guy. Sorry we missed each other, every Friday I have been working on the cookbook that will be released next year, so I’ve been off Fridays here and there. Shoot your questions directly to my email: [email protected]

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

2022 James Beard Nominee

beard award

Subscribe (It’s free)

ORDER THE BOOK

UPDATED OPTIONS FOR CA / EU / US the forager chefs book of flora by Chef Alan Bergo

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Footer

Instagram

foragerchef

FORAGER | CHEF®
🍄🌱🍖
Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
2022 James Beard Nominee
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

Alan Bergo
I made vegan fish sauce from ramp juice. You tak I made vegan fish sauce from ramp juice. 

You take the pure juice of the leaves, mix it with salt, Koji rice, and more chopped fresh ramp leaves, then ferment it for a bit. 

After the fermentation you put it into a dehydrator and cook it at 145-150 F for 30 days. 

The slow heat causes a Maillard/browning reaction over time. 

After 30 days you strain the liquid and bottle it. It’s the closest thing to plant-based fish sauce I’ve had yet. 

The potency of ramps is a pretty darn good approximation of the glutamates in meat. But you could prob make something similar with combinations of other alliums. 

The taste is crazy. I get toasted ramp, followed by mellow notes from the fermentation. Potent and delicate at the same time. 

I’ve been using it to make simple Japanese-style dipping sauces for tempura etc. 

Pics: 
2: Ramp juice 
3: Juicy leaf pulp 
4: Squeezing excess juice from the pulp
5: After 5 days at 145F 
6: After 30 days 
7: Straining through Muslin to finish

#ramps #veganfishsauce #experimentalfood #kojibuildscommunity #fermentation #foraging
Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Pepin used to make for French president Charles de Gaulle. 

You bake eggs in a ramekin with shrimp topped with creamy morel sauce and eat with toast points. 

Makes for a really special brunch or breakfast. Recipe’s on my site, but it’s even better to watch Jacques make it on you tube. 

#jacquespepin #morels #shrimp #morilles #brunchtime
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
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Affiliate Disclosure

 I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchases help keep this website free and help with the many costs involved with this site as it has continued to grow over the years. 

Copyright © 2022 ·