Conference turris::cooks

       One that has screamed too loud the previous day?

Horse Mushrooms (Agaricus arvensis) is a gill mushroom found in downland, 
meadows, pastures, parks, etc where it often grow in large fairy rings. Its part of 
a group that all look pretty much the same e.g. Field Mushroom (Agaricus 
campestris) and Wood Mushroom (Agaricus silciola), from which your common 
a garden supermarket mushroom was developed, and also Amanita Phalloides 
(Death Cap) and Amanita virosa (Destroying Angel).

Why its called a Horse Mushroom is anyone's guess. Maybe the horses, when 
grazing in fields, particularly liked eating them. Maybe Horses get a high from 
eating them much the same way Humans get a high from eating Amanita 
muscaria (Fly Agaric).

I cooked some over the past couple of days. Once adding them to a rich gravy at 
the end of cooking and twice to chicken noodle soup. They have a strong 
mushroom aroma and flavour (far more so than your supermarket variety) yet, 
perversly, its not a strong aroma/flavour. All I can say its 'almost but not quite 
entirely like the' supermarket mushroom in aroma/flavour. Its a mushroom 
alright, just different , but not so different as the Morells. The texture is definitely 
different. Its softer, chewier and, well..., slipperier. I liked it, my wife didn't. I 
reckon she is a supertaster and could taste the aniseed flavour; she doesn't like 
aniseed.

Recently, its been raining hard and with the approach of October the rather nice 
clump of 'Shaggy Ink Cap' just outside DECpark should be making an 
appearance. I think I'll try them out this year. My friend says their rather good.

I found some Laetiporus Sulphureus (sulphur Bracket or Chicken of the woods) 
earlier in the year. Unfortunately they were growing on Oak, so were extremely 
bitter.

If anyone has any interesting ideas on cooking these mushrooms, I would be 
grateful for recipes.

Angus

    You could make a mushroom pate with one or several varieties.  You 
    could stuff a wild mushroom.  ;*)  You could make mushroom soup.  
    You could make stuffing for fowl with them.  

    You could also join the BMC in MASSACHUSETTS and go to the annual 
    mushroom pot-luck dinner.  8*)

    You can do a whole bunch of things with mushrooms, even breads and
    rolls.  I have yet to see mushrooms as desert though.  

    Different mushrooms eaten at the same time can cause interesting 
    intestinal occurances.  The ride home from the pot luck dinner is 
    interesing at times for me.

    justme....jacqui

BMC = ???

         <<< Note 3976.5 by TOOK::DELBALSO "I (spade) my (dog face)" >>>
                                -< Darn TLA's >-

BMC = ???

    		BOSTON MYCOLOGICAL CLUB

    Shaggy Ink Caps are good fried lightly in butter. Pick them before the
    cap folds opens too much and they go "inky".
    
    Caroline
                                               

    I cut chicken mushrooms in slices and stir fry them with plenty of
    garlic and some lemon juice... they are delicious! specially when we
    "harvest" them.  I love to gather wild mushrooms though I only eat just
    the ones I know quite well... I learned long time ago to stay away from
    the "amanitas" type.
    Ana

    I love crab-stuffed mushrooms and they're easy to make.  Just saute
    chopped onion, minced garlic, chopped mushroom stems and fine bread
    crumbs in butter then mix in shredded crab meat.  Saute mushroom caps
    until tender then fill with warm bread-crab mixture.  I like to put
    mozzerella (sp?) cheese over them and place under broiler to blister
    the cheese.  Very good even though good crab is hard to find here in
    Colorado.  ;-)
    Gail

    Is there a ritual (like when you cross the Equator for the first time,
    have your first champagne, hold down a meal from the Deathpark canteen
    for more than 24 hours, etc) for when you have your first (identified
    by yourself and picked by your own hands) wild mushroom? :)
    
    The mushrooms I harvessted last night were Shaggy Ink Caps. I didn't
    get them from the Deathpark grounds (though the patch has appeared) or
    from some exotic loaction (e.g. the wild wood). No, I got them from our
    neighbours front garden :) :) :) Showing normal British fear of
    'toadstools', they were more than happy for me to pick them.
    
    Now, a question for our seasoned wild mushroom eaters. Is it possible
    to eat Shaggy Ink Caps with pink and/or black gills, but where the
    gills are not slimey or runny and the caps not fully open? I picked the
    mushrooms while the caps were still down. Some of the gills had just
    started to turn pink and black; actually more grey. My mushroom book
    says not to eat them when the gills turn pink, and when they turn black
    you really are pushing it. So, I dutifully threw away the caps with
    black gills (note, although black, the gills were not slimey or runny)
    and trimmed the pink bits. However, as an experiment, I kept some of
    the pink and black gills and cooked them and discerned no great
    difference in flavour or texture from the white gills.
    
    I broke up the caps and stems and sauted them in butter. Should you
    break up the caps or is it a question of what you're cooking and how
    you feel.
    
    Interesting flavour and texture. The ones I had were slightly mushroomy
    with a strong earthiness and a hint of something else... Could be the
    chicken flavour my friends detected when they had some. Not sure
    myself. I'll have to try with the batch outside of Deathpark :)
    
    Angus

Some of my favorites use the huge Portabella mushrooms (from Idylwilde Farms).

Remove the stems, brush with Italian dressing, and grill.  Slice into "steaks"
before serving.


Cut the whole mushroom, including stem into cubes.  Place in a blender cup with
stock and 1 tsp rubbed sage leaves.  Blend until smooth.  Heat and serve.  This
recipe cna be dressed up by adding cream and a splash of cognac to taste.  Note
while the uncooked puree is brownish, it turns very gray when cooked.

>Some of my favorites use the huge Portabella mushrooms (from Idylwilde Farms).

I had the great plesure of finally tasting Portabella mushrooms Saturday night
at Brown Thompson's in Hartford, CT.  They were on a seafood kabob and were the
best thing on it!

The waitress told me the mushrooms were just brushed with lime and grilled.
I can't wait to get some to cook myself.  These are a very hearty mushroom that
you can really sink your teeth into!  Shaw's usually carries them, but they
didn't have any yesterday.  The few pieces on the kabob were a tease!

Does anyone have more recipes for this incredible edible?

Thanks,
Laura

    This is a simple recipe I use when grilling steaks or a roast.
    
                           Garlic Mushrooms
    
INGREDIENTS:  32     large   fresh mushrooms
                 1/2 cup     olive or vegetable oil
               2     cloves  garlic, minced
    
 DIRECTIONS:  Remove stems from mushrooms; reserve caps.  
    
              In bowl, combine oil and garlic; add mushroom caps.  Gently toss 
              to coat.  
    
              Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon; place mushroom caps on piece
              of heavy duty foil.  Seal edges tightly.  Grill at side of roast 
              10 to 15 minutes until tender.
    

    I fixed some Portabella mushrooms with a sauce the other night with our
    (Jeff Smith's 'Cooking with Wine') oven roasted garlic chicken.  I'd 
    never prepared them as a side dish by themselves before and what I did
    was totally off the cuff. 

    The following approximates what I did with 2 medium sized mushrooms I
    had for 2 moderate side servings:

    Sliced 2 mushrooms into 1/4 inch slices

    Sauce: 
      + Took two of the larger slices and minced them (~1/4 cup).  
      + Sauteed the minced 'shrooms in olive oil with a bit of thyme 
    	    over low heat ~5 minutes. 
      + Added ~1 TBSP of sun dried tomato paste - sauteed ~2+ minutes.   
      + Added ~2 TBSP of the red wine (Merlot) I served with 
    	    dinner - sauteed ~2+ minutes.
      + Added ~1 TBSP of balsamic vinegar - sauteed ~2+ minutes.

    Mushrooms: 
      While I was working on the sauce, I sauteed the rest of the slices in
      a small amount of olive oil over low-med heat until done (~5-7 min).

    To serve, I just arranged the sauteed mushrooms on the plate, topped
    them with the sauce, and sprinkled each arrangement them with a little
    fresh grated parm cheese.

    This turned out OK and went well with the rest of our dinner.  I may
    have I tried doing too much, but everything else we were having was
    very plain and I had time to kill waiting for the chicken to finish ;-)

    \steve

I seem to only find the Portabellas sliced in the produce sections.

One of my faves -

Saute the sliced shrooms (12-18 pieces) in a few Tbs of olive oil till 
starting to tenderize. Add a mixture of 1/3 cup of any strong/fortified wine 
(Marsala, dry or sweet Sherry, or Port - they each make it uniquely good), 
which has been steeping for a few minutes with a half tsp. each of salt,
freshly ground pepper and oregano plus a couple cloves of garlic, minced. 
Saute on medium heat another 2 minutes. Add a heaping Tbs of crumbled bleu 
or gorgonzola cheese and continue to stir to incorporate, then add a Tbs of 
butter and saute just about another minute.

    shounds wonderful Jack.  
    
    
    I am still trying to get the kids to go for cheeses like gorgonzola. 
    maybe this will convert them.
    
    
    meg

    .15 I noticed last time I was in Bread and Circus that they had whole
        Portobello mushrooms.
    
    Regards,
    Jim

    Jack,
        Market Basket in Westford has whole Portobellos and of course
    Idylwild has them.
    
    Debbie
    

    I don't own a grill.  Has anyone ever broiled portabella mushrooms?  Is
    oil necessary, or could a no-oil Italian dressing be used?

    
    
    Rep .19 
    
    >>> Has anyone ever broiled portabella mushrooms? 
    
     yes, it works just fine
    
    >>>is oil necessary, or could a no-oil Italian dressing be used?
    
     no oil isn't necessary, and yes just about anything you like can
    be used.
    
    -mike
    

    Great.  Thanks.  I tried the 'top brown' setting of my toaster oven
    last night, but that didn't work very well.  Maybe I'll use the regular
    oven next time.  Or even zap them.

The oven broiler should work. Nuking them won't give you anything
like the "proper" results. If you have one of those "range-top
grills" that fits over a burner, that might work well.

    	I'd think one of those small electric grills would work well for
    something like this. They're under $20, and I use mine when the weather
    isn't real good for using the outdoor gas grill. Doesn't have the same
    flavor as the big grill, but it works in a pinch.
    
    	Ray