A while ago a video on cooking mushrooms started circulating in the online community that turned a lot of heads, at least in my world. In a nutshell, the video discussed the benefits in depth (see the video) of adding water to mushrooms before they’re sautéed. At first, I thought l “ok science guy, the…
Chanterelles | Hedgehogs | Trumpets | Gomphus | Yellowfeet | Cinnabars
Scallopini with Pickled Wild Mushrooms and Brown Butter
I tell people over and over to make mushroom conserve when they have a great harvest of small buttons, especially chanterelles: golden chanterelles, hedgehogs, blue chanterelles especially, although lobster mushrooms and polypores like chickens, hens, and Ischnoderma work good too. See the master recipe for mushroom conserve here. The reason isn’t because I eat pickled…
Pork Terrine with Chanterelles and Foie Gras (Pate de Girolles)
When I was in Provence on vacation a few years ago, some of the best food I had wasn’t in fancy restaurants, it was in small places, you know, spots where locals hang out. The good spots, independent and run by families, most of them. One of the best memories I have of eating was…
The Blue Chanterelle
I remember a time when I knew the word chanterelle, a type of golden mushroom French chef’s loved, and, that was it. Even after I cooked my first ones in a restaurant, I still only knew the golds. I knew nothing. I don’t think I could’ve ever imagined how complex and beautiful Nature’s chanterelle palette…
Blue Chanterelle Jerky
When I started pulling apart clusters of blue chanterelles / Polyozellus multiplex in my kitchen, just handling them told me one of the first things to do. These are fascinating mushrooms, with a scent that’s almost smoky, and a texture that’s tender and soft. I thought they could make even better jerky than hen of…
Grouse Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
While I was up north hunting matsutake last week, I completely forgot that I was going to be hunting at the same time as grouse season opener. As I walked on the trails I’d charted, it seemed like every 30 minutes or so I’d inadvertently flush a few birds. After two birds made me jump…
Pig Ear Mushrooms / Gomphus clavatus and Friends
Mushroom hunter: “Hey Alan, do you know what mushroom this is?” Me: “Err, hold on, ok. Send me your GPS coordinates immediately along with panorama photos and no harm will come to you or your family.” That sort of scenario is why I sift through plenty of ID requests and pics from random numbers every…
Pig Ear Gomphus Tacos
Gomphus clavatus are an increasingly rare edible mushroom also known as the violet chanterelle, the pig ear, and likely a bunch of different cultural specific names I don’t know of yet. These pictured in the recipe are actually a rare version of Gomphus clavatus that grows with hardwoods as opposed to pine, currently called pseudocraterllus…
Yellowfoot Chanterelle Broth with Tiny Pasta
Midwestern yellowfoot chanterelles are small–no doubt about it. As such, their the sort of ingredient that is so difficult to source in volume as to make them near impossible to find on a restaurant menu, no matter the cost. They’re literally a chef’s dream, and I made one of the best wild mushroom soups I’ve…
Caramelized Shallots and Black Trumpets
An ode to all things dark and sweet, here’s a recipe to up those fresh or dried black trumpet mushrooms: mixed in with some caramelized shallots and reduced down to a sweet-savory condiment for a hunk of meat, although it makes a great tart filling, coarsely chopped, too. It came about as I was looking…
Linguine with White Clam Sauce and Chanterelles
If you pick chanterelles you know the excitement that comes with the first buttons of the year, and picking what recipe you’ll make with the first teeny guys is something I really look forward to. Bright egg-yellow, rock hard wine corks that squeak like cheese curds when you chew them whole, giving off whiffs of…
The California Chanterelle, Cantharellus californicus
One of the most frustrating, and fascinating parts about hunting mushrooms, to me, is knowing exactly what species I’m eating. Without a microscope, this can be tough with some mushrooms, but I’ve found if I do my homework, and take into consideration as much evidence and circumstance as possible, I can get pretty darn close….
California Chanterelles with Potatoes and Spring Onions
A super simple side dish using California chanterelles I was picking on vacation and smuggled back in my luggage. They’re a lot bigger and chunkier than the chanterelles I pick in Minnesota, so, unlike most of my recipes where chanterelles are used whole, here they’re cut into large hunks and roasted with some of the…