# A good mushroom cookbook?



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Can anyone recommend a really good mushroom cookbook? I don't care too much about agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom, portobello, crimino...), there are plenty of recipes for those in other cookbooks. I mean, they're OK, and great dishes can be prepared with them (like the Elizabeth David's mushroom soup in French Provincial Cooking), but I recently bought a few mushrooms of the leccinum genus (a kind of bolete, not sure about the precise species, probably scabrum), made an omelette with them (just butter, garlic, fresh mushrooms, eggs, salt and pepper) and it was orgasmic. Absolutely stunning, indescribable, definitely one of the best dishes ever! I tried the same with fresh cep or the related summer cep (again didn't bother that much with identification) and it just wasn't as good. However, those ceps and summer ceps are much better dried than leccinum (especially noticeable in a cream-mushroom sauce for fresh fettuccine). So you see, each kind has a different preferred use. And then there are other boletes, russulas, milk caps, parasol mushrooms, girondelles and loads of other species.

So I want a cookbook which has good recipes that make good use of those different characteristics of different species (like that fresh leccinum omelette vs. that dried porcino and cream sauce fettuccine). Gray's Honey from a Weed has got a handful, so do Luard's European Peasant Cookery and Strybel's Polish Heritage Cookery. However, I want something that explores and explains mushroom cookery in depth. Jane Grigson has a book called The Mushroom Feast, anyone got that one? Is it good, enough in depth? Also, they can be in French, too. It's raining and the summer season is at its peak, tomorrow I'm going to collect a few myself, so I'm in need of a good cookbook. Thanks in advance.


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## thatchairlady (Feb 15, 2012)

Can't recommend a cookbook, but have a few SIMPLE recipes that I think are good.  Grew up in Delaware County, PA... not far from mushroom central.  My Dad loved mushrooms.  Sliced and sauteed in butter... they became a side dish... NOT a garnish.  Ate lunch after 1 of 2 DISASTEROUS rounds of golf, at the club house at Kimberton Golf Course.  They're house dressing was THINLY sliced white buttons in a basic vinagrette... raw of course.  Can make a half healthy and half not so healthy snack outta raw white mushroom slices.... next to a little bowl of blue cheese dressing.


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## chefdave11 (Oct 27, 2011)

thatchairlady said:


> Can't recommend a cookbook, but have a few SIMPLE recipes that I think are good. Grew up in Delaware County, PA... not far from mushroom central. My Dad loved mushrooms. Sliced and sauteed in butter... they became a side dish... NOT a garnish. Ate lunch after 1 of 2 DISASTEROUS rounds of golf, at the club house at Kimberton Golf Course. They're house dressing was THINLY sliced white buttons in a basic vinagrette... raw of course. Can make a half healthy and half not so healthy snack outta raw white mushroom slices.... next to a little bowl of blue cheese dressing.


Oh my gosh.

You really didn't read past the header, did you?? You couldn't possibly read this guy's post and then suggest anything with white button mushrooms! Seriously??

Slayerpltsko - Wow. It sounds like what you lack in quality wines, you make up in quality mushrooms! Makes you feel a little bit better now?


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

We recently did a review on "The Wild Table" which might be a great option. It is all about cooking foraged foods. You can check it out here:

http://www.cheftalk.com/products/the-wild-table-seasonal-foraged-food-and-recipes/reviews/4084


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## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Nicko said:


> We recently did a review on "The Wild Table" which might be a great option. It is all about cooking foraged foods. You can check it out here:
> 
> http://www.cheftalk.com/products/the-wild-table-seasonal-foraged-food-and-recipes/reviews/4084


Thanks for suggestion. Could you tell me what fungi species are included in the book? But it really looks interesting.

I just don't get one thing in the review. If the book is all about cooking foraged foods, why did the reviewer buy those foodstuffs instead of hunting for them and saving his/her money? Also, I can't agree that stinging nettles are difficult to get. They grow everywhere, all you need to do is just collect them (there might very well even be some in your garden!). Huckleberries are unknown to me, but morels should also grow in most, if not all, US states (of course, their season is just those few weeks in the spring).

ChefDave11: Yeah, a bit better. But don't you have mushrooms growing in Ohio, too? You could then go and pick them yourself for free. Or you need a license (here we don't, but I know that in Italy it is required)?


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## geodude (Aug 23, 2012)

I would also like to give thanks for the recommendation on "The Wild Table":  It looks very interesting and lead me to a couple of other books on Amazon that seemed interesting like Hank Shaw's "Hunt, Gather, Cook" (Recipes, advice on foraging AND discussions on the philosophy/ethics of hunting and fishing?  My kind of book!).


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## kostendorf (Mar 15, 2012)

do you speak german because there are so many mushrooms in austria and just as many cook books.  not to sure if they are translated.  and some great recipes.


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## kostendorf (Mar 15, 2012)

i just reread your post and noticed you are from Slovakia.  yea this year has been great for mushrooms.  i went picking a few times and now have much dried, preserved frozen ,and some sauces to pull out of the freezer when winter comes so i can say "yea i remember summer mushroom picking".  it has gotten drier here now and it slowed down but some parts are still good.  i am heading out again this week to a spot that will still be good.  the Austrians are crazy about there mushrooms and i have learned many great recipes working here for the past 3 years.


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## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

kostendorf said:


> i just reread your post and noticed you are from Slovakia. yea this year has been great for mushrooms. i went picking a few times and now have much dried, preserved frozen ,and some sauces to pull out of the freezer when winter comes so i can say "yea i remember summer mushroom picking". it has gotten drier here now and it slowed down but some parts are still good. i am heading out again this week to a spot that will still be good. the Austrians are crazy about there mushrooms and i have learned many great recipes working here for the past 3 years.


Hi!

It has obviously been a good year, some people claimed to have collected about 2000(!) mushrooms in a matter of three weeks at the peak of season (mostly summer ceps and various other boletes, russulas and other species). Were you to buy these in Metro or elsewhere, that would have to be expensive beyond belief (perhaps you could buy a car instead lol). It was the first year after many that I went picking though, so not having the nearby forests explored yet, I found only a basketful of Leccinum griseum (not bad dried either, just colours food brown), a basketful of russulas and some parasols. But only one summer cep, a big one though. And you're right, it's been very dry lately, but seems to be getting better and the autumn season is approaching and this means milk caps and other stuff that I'm looking forward to. Yes, please, feel free to recommend German/Austrian cookbooks. I haven't spoked German for five years (or even read or written), so it'll be a good way to revive it.


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