I love working with truffles, so when a truffle hunter from Hungary and his friend asked me if I’d contribute to a new book on truffles they were writing by sampling Honey truffles (Mattirolomyces terfezioides) fresh from the earth, shipped direct from Hungary, I agreed (and squealed with joy). Shipping mushrooms across the pond is…
Recipes for Fresh Wild Mushrooms
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.
Matsutake Fried Rice
If you’re skilled enough to have access to wild matsutake mushrooms (or lucky, or know a have a nice friend), fried rice needs to be in your rotation. Matsutake are strange creatures, even though we know they grow in places outside of Japan and Korea where they’re especially treasured (PNW, Scandinavia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, Ontario,…
Heirloom Acorn Squash with Truffled Maple, Honey Truffles and Butternuts
A while back I was contacted by a truffle hunter and soon to be author from Hungary wanting to know if I could contribute some recipes to a book on Honey Truffles (Mattirolomyces terfezioides). They offered to ship some to me direct from Hungary for the project, and being a fan both of truffles and…
Oven Fried Shrimp of the Woods
Fall is here, and one thing I know I can always count on are aborted entoloma / Entoloma abortivum / shrimp of the woods, no matter how bad the maitake are teasing me. If you have some, oven frying the arboreal crustaceans is a recipe you’re going to want to bookmark. As long as you…
Shrimp of the Woods Scampi
It’s that time of year again, time for a nice mushroom with a generally horrible name to start oozing and popping it’s way out of the Earth. I like to use the name shrimp of the woods as their texture is slightly similar, but, the majority of people are still going to know them by…
Candied Black Trumpets
Candied mushrooms? Like, with sugar?? Hard pass. Candied mushrooms are the sort of frou-frou B.S. I’d expect 15 year old me to try making, or a young cook still trying to figure out what a palette is. Honestly, I found the idea so annoying it was nearly offensive. These are mushrooms we’re talking about, I…
Lobster Mushroom Rolls
Lobster mushroom rolls are a solid way to enjoy your harvest. Lobster rolls are usually a pretty simple thing: really fresh lobster, mayonnaise, and maybe some chives or celery, since it’s all about the lobster. But lobster mushroom rolls, if they’re going to taste like anything, need some extra attention, lobster mushrooms having a much…
Braised Lobster Mushrooms with Tomato and Leek
Way back, a long time ago, I wrote a recipe for braising a lobster mushroom whole, and, while it was an ok way to cook them, as the years past, the recipe has been on my list to update, so here you go. The original recipe was a simple stewed mushroom cooked whole, and while…
Lobster Mushroom Confit
I’d struggle to think of anything that wouldn’t be good seasoned and cooked covered in fat with herbs, and lobster mushroom confit is no exception. Even though mushrooms will never get fork tender like a pheasant thigh, or a goose leg, they’re still great candidates for confit, but especially chunky, ones like lobster mushrooms. Lobster…
Salted Wild Mushrooms in Brine
Once I started reading about traditional ways to preserve mushrooms around the world, one of the first ones I came across was salted wild mushrooms, an old stand-by used in plenty of places, but most notably Eastern Europe. It’s not that popular in America, but one trip to a market with an Eastern European ownership…
Sicilian Chicken of the Woods
Think eating chicken of the woods is strictly an American thing? The continents separated a long time ago, but we still share many of the same mushrooms, at least as far as culinary purposes are concerned (specific species are another story). Doing research with Jesse for The Wild Harvest show as we planned Episode 3…
French Lentils with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms
When I got back from hunting with a bag full of fresh Gyroporus cyanescens, one of the only boletes I prefer fresh to dried, this is what I made. It’s super simple, and just a snapshot of the simple European food I usually cook at home. First you make a soffrito by finely chopping some…
Pheasant Back Fermented Soy Sauce
Prime pheasant back / dryad saddle season is usually about over after the spring chicken of the woods pop, but just because they’re big and tough as nails doesn’t mean you can’t do anything with them, and pheasant back shoyu is a great example, especially if you like edible science projects. Shoyu and it’s cousin…