When I tell people I like to use burdock root, the first response I usually get is: “Oh yeah, that stuff that’s in sushi, right?” Yes, and no. When I dug my first burdock and cooked it (I source them for the Salt Cellar since I don’t have an army of foragers at my disposal,…
Fall
Bison-Black Barley Stew, With Fried Chicken Mushrooms
When I brought my first fried chicken mushrooms home from the coop, after the basic “fry in pan with butter until brown and add salt” method, this is what I made, It’s simple, and a good example of my style of cooking: interesting, high quality ingredients, cooked with classical technique. I remembered my foraging buddy…
Fried Chicken Mushrooms
Fried chicken mushrooms, or Lyophyllum decastes have eluded me for a number of years. I read about them first in David Arora’s Mushrooms Demystified, but hadn’t ever seen them hunting in Minnesota. As far as mushrooms go, they’re pretty non-descript. They’re small, and typically grow in clusters around disturbed land, which, as most mushroom hunters…
Partridge with Pears and Pickled Ramp Glace
Here’s something fun I’ve been saving just for the holiday season, and it’s as unusual as they come, not to mention delicious. It also happens to be inspired by the classic Christmas song “Twelve days of Christmas”. If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you’ll know that I occasionally try to poke fun at…
Stuffed Giant Lobster Mushrooms
After lobster season has been at it for a while, you can find some really large mushrooms. The shape of lobsters can be irregular, but you can always count on a couple here and there that are big and concave-more than once I’ve heard my friends refer to them as giant tacos. If you’re like…
Matsutake Ramen
They have a smell and taste like nothing else. They’re matsutake; one of the most interesting things I’ve cooked with. They have a flavor that’s difficult to describe. Other mushrooms like Boletes, and their cousins Leccinums, Suillus, and Tylopilus, all have a sort of taste/aroma, and you could make other comparisons with chanterelles, trumpets, and…
Hen Of The Woods-Leek Gratin
Here’s an awesome, easy way to enjoy those hen of the woods. Story goes that I was at my girlfriends place getting ready to make some Sunday dinner, we pulled some pork chops out of the freezer, but were a little light on the vegetable front. Thankfully there’s a giant garden around-the stuff dreams are…
Red Chanterelles
One of the most exciting things that happens for me is discovering something that I haven’t found before. This year, one of those things was red chanterelles. One day I got a picture message from an old coworker, and I was shocked to see a big basket of what looked like red chanterelles. I didn’t…
