• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Subscribe
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Finding the Forgotten Feast

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • My Cookbooks
    • Public Events
  • Podcast
  • Game Recipes
    • Venison Recipes
    • Duck Recipes and Goose Recipes
    • Rabbits, Hares and Squirrels
    • Pheasants, Turkey, Quail
    • Dove and Pigeon Recipes
    • Wild Pig and Bear Recipes
    • My Best Taco Recipes
    • Wild Game Sauces
  • Charcuterie
    • Homemade Sausage Recipes
    • Smoker Recipes
    • Bacon, Jerky, Hams, etc
    • Salami Recipes
    • Confit, Pate, Terrines
  • Fish
    • General Fish Recipes
    • Salmon Recipes
    • Snapper Recipes
    • Crabs, Shellfish and Squid
    • Little Fish and Oddballs
  • Gathering
    • Preservation Recipes
    • Mushrooms
    • Sweet Things
    • Wild Greens and Herbs
    • Acorns, Nuts, Starches

Mushroom Recipes

If you're looking for mushroom recipes, especially wild mushroom recipes, you have come to the right place: This is my collection of nearly 75 recipes where mushrooms are the star, or where they play harmony with other ingredients.

Seared lake trout, porcini and morels on a plate.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Some are fancy, some simple. Most of these mushroom recipes can be made with regular ole' button mushrooms, or their brown cousins, the cremini; yes, they are the same mushroom, just grown differently.

The single best store-bought mushroom that matches the flavor intensity of wild mushrooms is the shiitake, so if you're into mushrooms buy that one.

Basic Tips

Virtually all mushrooms must be cooked, because even fully edible ones need their cell walls broken down by cooking to be fully digestible, and some, like morel mushrooms, are actually toxic if eaten raw.

Many mushrooms contain so much internal water you will want to toss them in a dry pan and "dry fry" them until they start giving up that water. Only then do you add butter or oil.

Mushrooms, being earthy, love wild game, beef, duck and other dark meat poultry. But some, like the matsutake, the enoki and the common white button mushroom, do go very well with fish and white meats.

Always save the water from rehydrating dried mushrooms. It's full of flavor and, once strained of its debris, is great for soups, stews and cooking rice.

In general, multiply the weight of dried mushrooms by eight to get the equivalent weight of fresh. So 1/4 pound of dried porcini, for example, will be the equivalent of 2 pounds fresh.

 

Preserving Mushrooms

Most mushrooms are best preserved by drying. This is not true for a few popular mushrooms, like chanterelles and chicken of the woods. These lose a lot when dried, and should be sautéed, then vacuum sealed and frozen.

I dehydrate my mushrooms in a dehydrator at about 110°F. You can put them on a rack in a hot garage, the back of your car in summer, or if you have to, a low oven. This is not ideal because you want to dry mushrooms, not cook them.

The next most common way to preserve mushrooms is to sauté them in butter or oil, with onions and garlic (or not), either in large pieces or as a classic French duxelle. You then cool, put in a vacuum bag, seal and freeze.

You can pickle mushrooms, too, and I am especially fond of pickled chanterelles. There's also a hybrid technique from Italy where you salt mushrooms to remove some liquid, then boil in vinegar, dry them a bit, then preserve in olive oil. I prefer this style of marinated mushrooms for porcini.

Finally, you can lacto-ferment mushrooms, which is a brine pickle. I do this primarily with saffron milk caps, but you can use lots of different mushrooms.

Close up of fermented mushrooms on a plate.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Gathering and Cooking Guides

These are guides to finding, safely identifying and cooking a few popular types of wild mushrooms.

Starting with chanterelles, which come out in summer in most of the United States, but in fall and winter in the Northwest. I wrote another article on yellowfoot chanterelles, a type of related mushroom.

Here are some tips on how to look for morel mushrooms in the West, and some pointers on looking for spring porcini.

Meadow mushrooms, Agaricus campestris, live all over, but they can be tricky to identify. Here's how.

Here's a guide to cauliflower mushrooms, and one for honey mushrooms.

Sauces

Mushrooms of all kinds make for great sauces. Some of the best are the simplest, like a mushroom sauce for steak.

I do a specific morel sauce with venison that's also great with beef or pork, and a rich mushroom ragu to serve with pasta or polenta.

I also make a simple mushroom sauce that works well with fattier fish, like trout, salmon or mackerel.

A plate of mushroom ravioli with sautéed mushrooms
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Pasta and Rice

Mushrooms love to be with pasta or rice. Everything from risotto with porcini, morels or chanterelles, to Japanese matsutake rice.

I love mushroom ravioli, as well as mushroom tortellini, too. And you can never go wrong with mushroom pierogi.

Soups and Stews

I have a range of soups and stews where mushrooms are either the star or a main player. Some of my favorites are a smooth chanterelle veloute, a wild mushroom bisque, a Spanish stew called chilindron, which uses lots of dried mushrooms, or a Russian stew with mushrooms, barley and a red meat like goose.

The Latest

Hen of the woods recipe on a plate

Hen of the Woods ‘Steak’

By Hank Shaw on November 9, 2020, Updated February 15, 2021 - 7 Comments

This is a simple hen of the woods recipe where you slice the mushroom in big ‘steaks,’ then sear it under a weight.

Read More about Hen of the Woods ‘Steak’

A platter of Spanish mushroom rice

Spanish Mushroom Rice

By Hank Shaw on October 12, 2020, Updated March 29, 2021 - 10 Comments

Basically this is a paella that hinges on mushrooms, with pork and paprika playing harmony. Wild mushrooms like porcini are best, but whatever you have will do.

Read More about Spanish Mushroom Rice

Chinese mushroom stir fry on a plate

Mushroom Stir Fry

By Hank Shaw on July 9, 2020, Updated March 29, 2021 - 6 Comments

A simple mushroom stir fry recipe from Yunnan, China: Dry fried mushrooms with ginger, scallions and chiles.

Read More about Mushroom Stir Fry

A mushroom sauce for steak on a venison steak with mashed potatoes.

Mushroom Sauce for Steak

By Hank Shaw on June 22, 2020, Updated February 27, 2022 - 19 Comments

This is a classic French mushroom sauce for steak based off a Julia Child recipe. Try it on your next venison steak.

Read More about Mushroom Sauce for Steak

Grilled mushrooms on a plate

Grilled Mushrooms

By Hank Shaw on June 8, 2020, Updated March 15, 2021 - 16 Comments

Grilled mushrooms are a great way to move what’s normally a cold weather ingredient outdoors. This recipe works with any meaty mushroom.

Read More about Grilled Mushrooms

two perfect porcini mushrooms

You Can Go Home Again

By Hank Shaw on June 1, 2020, Updated April 6, 2021 - 9 Comments

An inability to travel far and wide can lead you to focus on familiar spaces, to recall old memories – and create new ones.

Read More about You Can Go Home Again

Two bowls of pasta primavera

Pasta Primavera

By Hank Shaw on April 9, 2020, Updated March 13, 2021 - 11 Comments

Classic pasta primavera the way Le Cirque used to make it back in the 1980s: Angel hair with fresh spring vegetables and cream.

Read More about Pasta Primavera

Porcini powder in a mortar and pestle.

Porcini Powder

By Hank Shaw on April 3, 2020, Updated June 4, 2022 - 8 Comments

Porcini powder is a powerful way to add savory flavors to whatever it is you are cooking. Here’s how to make it at home.

Read More about Porcini Powder

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 9
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Hank Shaw holding a rod and reel in the American River

Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

More about Hank...

Featured Recipes

red chimichurri with venison steak
Red Chimichurri
Cucumber sauce for salmon on a pretty plate
Cucumber Sauce for Salmon
A plate of arrachera tacos with salsa
Arrachera Tacos
A bowl of cherry tomato confit
Cherry Tomato Confit
Fire roasted salsa in a molcajete
Fire Roasted Salsa
Two hands holding a fried fish sandwich
A Simple Fried Fish Sandwich

As Seen In

As seen on CNN, New York Times, Simply Recipes, Martha Stewart, Food and Wine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Splendid Table

Never Miss a Recipe

Receive recipes direct to your inbox.

 

 

Back to Top
  • Home
  • About
  • Classes & Events
  • Tutorials
  • Podcast
  • Charcuterie
  • Wild Game
  • Fish
  • Foraging
  • Privacy
Subscribe by email Connect on Facebook Connect on Pinterest Follow Me on Instagram

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2022 Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, All Rights Reserved.

Site built by: Site by Status Forward