Recipes

Sometimes you hear people say that they don't like mushrooms. It is almost certain that the author of such has statement is judging the whole Kingdom by their experience of a solitary example, almost invariably the common shop mushroom Agaricus bisporus. This is a bit like only ever tasting a lychee and then declaring that you don't like fruit. What most people do not realize is that the aromas, flavours, colours and textures of the fungal world are as diverse as those among the vegetables, and more varied than those found in meat. Of course the classic "mushroomy" flavour is frequently encountered among wild fungi, particularly among the genera of Agaricus, Boletus and Leccinum, with subtle variations in richness and sweetness, but other genera such as the Milk-caps and Brittlegills display flavour profiles from mildly nutty to a scorching heat that would rival the feistiest chilies on the Schofield scale.

As well as "mushroomy", "nutty" and "hot", there are mushrooms that taste and/or smell meally, sweet, sour, bitter, peppery, fruity, meaty or of seafood, garlic, coconut, curry or anise! Many fungi display complex flavour combinations, for example a cep would be mushroomy and nutty, a horse mushroom would be mushroomy, sweet and of anise, while a chanterelle would be fruity and peppery.

When it comes to colour, the full spectrum is represented as well as black and white, while textures include firm (al dente), gelatinous, crumbly, dry, glutinous, crunchy and juicy.

It has been speculated that it might be possible to successfully create a curry from nothing but mushrooms and oil or butter in which to cook them. I don't know of anyone who has succeeded, but I will make a suggestion - the most difficult part might be in securing all of the ingredients at the same time! The sauce might consist of curry milk-caps (to provide the curry scent), peppery boletes (to make the sauce spicy), coconut milk-caps (to lend some "heat" while providing nutty sophistication and aniseed agarics (the anise flavour would give the sauce "depth"). Frying these together before putting them into a blender just might work, although "disgusting" is a possible outcome... heck, I'm no chef! For the "meat" of the curry I can think of no better mushroom than the clustered domecap, which when fried tastes exactly like spicy fried chicken (in the USA they actually call it the "fried chicken mushroom")! Cut into crude chunks and sautee, then add to the re-heated sauce and Voila! - an all-mushroom chicken shakuti! Or not. I was tempted to mention that garlic parachutes could be cooked with the domecaps (to do what it says on the tin) but these seem to be uncommon in Scotland, and anyway sometimes less is more.

Professional and amateur cooks alike are welcome to submit recipes to the Hub for inclusion in this section.