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FORAGER | CHEF

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

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Fresh Mushroom Recipes

Hedgehog mushroom soup with foraged greens, beans and tomatoes

Fresh mushrooms work in two basic ways: as the main ingredient in a recipe, or as a supporting character working in the background. Here you'll find a little bit of everything.

Pan Roasted Blewits, Squash and Brussels Sprouts with Sage

Pan roasted blewits with brussesls sprouts, squash and sage

Going to the farmers market always gives me inspiration. It’s fun to not have a set idea of what I want to cook and just let my instinct (or cravings) guide me. One week this past fall, with a big bag of blewits burning a hole in my fridge I was on the look out for…

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Saffron Milk Cap Mushroom Paella

Baked saffron milk cap paella (7)

Whenever I find saffron milkcaps, I tend to look to Spain for inspiration, since no other country I know of has such a visible affection for any sort of milkcap, sans the growing interest in using candy caps in the U.S. Finding recipes isn’t that difficult, as long as you know a few interchangeable terms:…

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Lobster Mushroom Bolognese

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…

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Warm Pickled Chanterelles with Brie, Sourdough and Wild Greens

Baked chanterelle mushroom conserve with wild greens and melted brie

I’ve mentioned a number of times about the benefits of my low acid mushroom conserve recipe. It’s easy to think of pickled chanterelles and other mushrooms purely as something to eat cold of out a jar, but that’s not why I pickle them. I preserve mushrooms in acidic liquid since it’s the best way to…

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Limousin Flank Steak with Vietnamese Coriander and Lobster Mushroom Hash

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:…

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Lobster With Yellowfoot Chanterelles and Dandelion Purée

Lobster with yellowfoot chanterelles and spinach-dandelion puree

A few years ago my girlfriend asked me the type of question that lets you know someone loves you: “Sweetheart, if you could eat anywhere in Provence, where would you go?” I knew the answer right away, even though I had never really thought I’d be able to go: La Bastide St. Antoine in Grasse,…

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Puffball Mushroom Lasagna

puffball mushroom lasagna recipe

Puffballs can be tricky to work with. Sauteing them can get oily and heavy fast, and not browning them, well, is just not going to taste good at all. One of my favorite things to do is to cook slices of the mushroom and use like sheets of fresh pasta. So far, I’ve really enjoyed…

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Duck Egg-Ricotta Omelet with Boletes, Herbs and Chickweed

Duck egg-riccota omelet with pine boletes, chickweed, milkweed flowers and herbs ,

I have a lot of friends who hunt mushrooms, but my friend Olena is a special one. She’s from Eastern Europe, and as you might expect has the penchant for hunting mushrooms that so many people from the region do, but with a few differences from some of the others I’ve ran into in the…

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
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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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