Burbot was one of those interesting local fish, like sunnies, crappies and perch that were hard to source through fish purveyors, no one seemed to carry it. Eventually I got to try my first after someone was nice enough to grab me a couple packages from a fish shop up in Cumberland, Wisconsin. I knew…
Other Wild Mushrooms
Seared Prawns with Kale and Coral / Ramaria Mushrooms
Here’s a really simple, land and sea, or surf and turf combo with those Ramaria / Coral mushrooms we know and love. It took me a number of years to find species of coral fungus in my area I was comfortable with, but after I did some testing to make sure I didn’t suffer from…
Turkey Terrine with Venison Bacon, Lobster Mushrooms and Wild Caraway
One of the best, and oldest uses charcuterie can provide is how it helps use up odds and ends in the kitchen, especially meat scraps. Sometimes I have a little of something left from one project, or two, and I’ll vacuum seal some of the meat away in a larger container made from scraps, just…
Dried Lobster Mushroom Rub
If you hunt lobster mushrooms, chances are you end up with a surplus of dried ones at the end of the season. If you don’t keep on top of using them, that surplus can double up if there’s any left once mushroom hunting season starts again where you live. Unlike some other mushrooms I pick,…
Matsutake with Hakurei Turnips
As much as I can, I try to plant the seed of enjoying the entire plant when you cook with a part of it. A lot of times, this means cooking with stems, roots, and leaves in a dish, but depending on the season and what you’re cooking it could also be various bulbs, shoots,…
Steamed Hericium with Fried Herbs and Drawn Butter
If you hunt wild mushrooms, you probably know some of the flavor comparisons for well known species. Chicken of the woods taste like chicken, chanterelles smell like apricots, slippery jacks taste like viscous slugs (fresh at least), candy caps taste like maple syrup and hericium mushrooms cook a bit like crab (note that I said…
Lobster Mushroom Bolognese
When I was dreaming up of what to make for my dinner with the writers of Untamed Mushrooms to celebrate their book release, I knew I wanted to do a few courses of mine and a course or two inspired by the book. If you’re a mushroom hunter and you haven’t grabbed a copy order one and…
Limousin Flank Steak with Vietnamese Coriander and Lobster Mushroom Hash
After I found the local vendors at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market selling Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata) and figured out what it was, I had to make a dish with it. After a day or two of playing around with the herb, the first way I served it was the simplest I could think of:…
Wilted Amaranth, Chesnok Garlic and Summer Wild Mushrooms
I’ve been eating more and more amaranth in the past few years, for some reason I forgot I could wilt it like spinach. For a year or two all I did was put it in salads, and then it needs to be blended with other greens. If you use it raw, it can be a…
Cordyceps Militaris
If you’ve read mushroom field guides, or have spent any time watching mushroom flavored media, you’re probably familiar with Cordyceps: the group of mushroom species famous for taking over the bodies and minds of insects to do their reproductive bidding. Long story short, the fungus infects insects (ants seem to be the most well known)…
Stinkhorn / Witch Eggs
Stinkhorns smell, are covered in goo that attracts flies and just looking at them will make most people cringe, laugh, or feel revulsion. A quick google will show you the formations have an impressive range too: dog phallus, phallus in a cage, or even weird alien phallus. Oh, and Phallus is actually they’re proper Latin…
Blackened Shrimp of The Woods
When I’m hunting Hen of the Woods, aborted entolomas can get passed up as I scan the trees for a white oak with a giant mushroom at it’s base. It’s a shame to pass them up since aborted entolomas are so easy to hunt and cook, but if every mushroom tasted as good as every…
Lobster Mushroom Pavé
Once again, lobster mushroom season has left me shocked at the amount of fungus a single patch of ground can produce. The years of wandering my patches looking for them has changed the mushrooms I tend to pick though. When I first started picking lobster mushrooms I would pick everything that wasn’t rotten. Mushrooms that…