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

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Richard Olney’s Chanterelle Duxelles Pudding

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A serving of chanterelle mushroom pudding on a china plate Chanterelle pudding is an old-school mushroom recipe from the one and only Richard Olney, who was one of the defining authors of modern French Cuisine in the era of Julia Child and James Beard.

Chanterelle mushrooms or Cantharellus phasmatis

I used chanterelles, but many different wild mushrooms will work.

In his most well-known book, Simple French Food, Olney shares a recipe for “mushroom pudding”, a sort of side dish or casserole made by mixing a healthy amount of chopped mushrooms with bechamel, eggs and a little parmesan cheese. 

Raw chanterelle pudding in a pie pan ready to go in the oven

Before the oven. The mixture should be loose, but will firm up as it bakes.

It’s a rich, filling side dish, and a great way to use up mushrooms of any kind that you have. I used chanterelles, but other mushrooms, especially chunky ones like porcini would be great too.

You could also use wild mushroom duxelles or frozen mushrooms. Serve as a side dish along with a green salad dressed with olive oil and lemon or wilted greens. 

Cooked chanterelle mushroom pudding with fresh mushrooms on the side as a decoration

Mushrooms to use 

I used chanterelle mushrooms because they were what I had at the time, but this is the kind of wild mushroom recipe where many different types will work. Here’s a few that’ll be good, with some tips. 

  • Black trumpets, mixed half and half with mushrooms that are more firm, like chanterelles. 
  • Chicken of the woods, with a few scrapes of lemon zest added to the batter. 
  • Lobster mushrooms, cooked with a generous pinch of paprika and a knife-tip of cayenne. 

Variations 

There’s lots of ways you can switch this up and tweak the flavor. 

  • Mushrooms love dairy, so after I made this according to Olney’s instructions, I used a bechamel where half of the mushrooms were cooked in the sauce to flavor it, mixing in the other half at the end like the original recipe. 
  • Parmesan is fine here, and understated, but a melting cheese like gruyere would be great too. 
  • If you add the egg yolks to the bechamel, then beat the whites to peaks and fold them in it will give the dish more of a fallen souffle feel.
wild Mushroom Pudding with chanterelles near the plate
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Richard Olney's Chanterelle Mushroom Pudding

A rich side dish made from chanterelles, bechamel, and parmesan inspired by Richard Olney. This makes an entire 9 inch pan full, so feel free to cut it in half. Serves 6-8
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Chanterelles, Richard Olney
Servings: 8

Ingredients

Chanterelles

  • 20 oz wild mushrooms especially chanterelles
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or oil
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
  • ¼ cup dry white wine

Bechamel

  • ¼ cup minced shallots
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour or equivalent
  • Fresh grated nutmeg to taste
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 oz good parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Wash and dry the chanterelles, then chop medium-fine. Heat the chanterelles and salt in a 10 inch skillet, covered, cooking until their liquid has evaporated.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir, scraping up any browned bits.
  • Add the wine, stir, and turn the pan off.
  • Meanwhile, sweat the shallots in the 3 tablespoons of butter, then add the flour, stir, and gradually add the cold half and half, heat, stirring aggressively with a spoon or spatula until thickened.
  • Preheat the oven to 400.
  • Season the bechamel with nutmeg and pepper, then mix in the chanterelles and cheese. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes, then beat in the cheese, thyme and parsley.
  • Taste the mixture and consider it if needs additional seasoning. Adjust the seasoning until it tastes good to you, then beat in the eggs.
  • Liberally butter a pie dish, then place in a larger pan, put in the oven, and, using a pitcher, pour warm water into the pan in the oven to come up 2/3 of the pie dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until just set.

 

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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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