• 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
  • Wild 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

Wild Mushroom Fricasee Fredy Girardet

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Fricasee of chanterelles, porcini, lobster mushrooms, and laccaria recipeOld cookbooks are a wealth of knowledge. Back in the day, it didn’t matter how many art directors were on set for the photo shoot, and how many different plate props you had, good food was just good food. One of my favorite old books is Fredy Girardet, a famous Swiss chef who reached the height of his influence around the mid 80’s. 

The Cuisine of Fredy GirardetGirardet cooked in the French tradition, and although looking through the book, you might not think the recipes seem too interesting. There’s simple dishes like poached chicken with watercress sauce, and sauteed veal steaks with swiss chard, and pears in red wine. The simplicity of the dishes (and lack of photos) take some culinary sleuthing, you really need to have an idea of how these sort of dishes are prepared, and the quality of the ingredients to be able to replicate them as they would be served, but that’s how cooking from a book written by a chef can be, especially in the days  before things were grotesquely over-photographed (I know I’m guilty of it here but it’s a necessary evil).

Fricasee of chanterelles, porcini, lobster mushrooms, and laccaria recipe

A good blend, and a big pan are keys for the most interesting fricasee here.

Some dishes are relatively easy to prepare in a home kitchen though, and this simple mushroom fricasee is a good example. At first glance, the recipe sounds really simple, and it is, but there’s a few fine points that were different enough for me to make a few batches and write it up for you. 

At the end of the day, it’s similar to the way many of us cook wild mushrooms, but with a few differences: 

  • The mushrooms are all uniformly sliced
  • A blend of mushrooms is used 
  • Both garlic and shallot are added 

Of course, you can simply fry up a pan of sliced mushrooms–whatever you have, but a blend is nice, and the uniform slicing was new to me, and I thought it was a good way to have fun with a blend of mushrooms. Typically I try to keep mushrooms in a shape that honors their form, but there’s definitely more than one way to cook a wild mushroom. 

Fricasee of chanterelles, porcini, lobster mushrooms, and laccaria recipe

Fricasee of chanterelles, porcini, lobster mushrooms, and laccaria recipe
Print Recipe
No ratings yet

Wild Mushroom Fricasee Fredy Girardet

A simple sautee of wild mushrooms with garlic, parsley and shallots.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Wild mushrooms
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 lb wild mushrooms* cleaned and sliced ¼ inch
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • Fresh chopped parsley to taste
  • 2 tablespoons minced shallot
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

  • Heat the mushrooms and water in a large 10 inch skillet, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper.
  • Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and cook off the liquid, then push the mushrooms to the side of the pan, add the butter and cook for a few minutes more until lightly browned, add the garlic and shallot, cook for a minute more, double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, adjust as needed, then toss in the parsley and serve.
  • There may be a fond leftover in the bottom of the pan, consider deglazing it with wine and using it for a simple sauce to serve with the mushrooms and whatever you’d like to accompany them.

Notes

There's lots of different mushrooms that would be good here, but chanterelles, porcini, hedgehog, lobster, chicken of the woods, and other summer mushrooms are great. I think it's best made with a blend. 

 

Related

Previous Post: « Baked Fish with Black Trumpet Crust
Next Post: How to Make Shaggy Mane Mushroom Ink »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

James Beard Award Winner

beard award

Subscribe (It’s free)

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Footer

Instagram

foragerchef

FORAGER | CHEF®
🍄🌱🍖
Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

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
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 ·