Featured
In this week's podcast, I'm talking mushrooms. Specifically, how to get into mushroom hunting - safely. I talk you through the basics, how to get started, what varieties you will want to look for first, and how not to poison yourself.
Wild Game
This is about as classic French as you get. Salmis (sal-mee) of snipe: Salmis is where you roast a bird, make a quick sauce from the bones, and serve it with mushrooms and maybe some toast. This is a fantastic snipe recipe.
Mushrooms
Fried morels. Where have you been all my life? Seriously. I have eaten morels for decades, but only recently have I experenced the glory of the fried morel. I am not looking back.
Recipe
Spring is in full swing here in California, and it's not far off in the rest of the country. This recipe brings together several of my favorite spring ingredients: Rabbit, morel mushrooms and nettles, all in a lovely, Italian-inspired dish.
Pheasant, Grouse, Quail
If you've never braised pheasant thighs, you're missing out. Unlike the drumsticks, which can be fiddly, the thighs on pheasants (and wild turkeys) are sublime when slow cooked. This recipe is based on a French one and uses lots of mushrooms.
Mushrooms
The professional mushroom pickers call this time of year Winter Pick. It's a time of abundance here in Northern California, a time when you can conceivably come home with 20 different kinds of edible mushrooms. It's my favorite time of year.
Venison
Caramelized onions make any dish they appear in better. This recipe is no exception: Big venison steaks, onions and seared hen-of-the-woods mushrooms are autumn on a plate.
Mushrooms
If Porcini are the kings of the mushroom world, chanterelles are its queen. There are several varieties of chanterelle, ranging…
Mushrooms
For most of the world, porcini mushrooms are a feature of fall. But here in the West, we also get spring and even summer porcini. In fact, the biggest flush I deal with are right now, as spring fades into summer. To do justice to these mushrooms, we cannot look to Europe. We must develop our own porcini cuisine.
Foraging
“Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” That may be the most famous quote from the father of modern…
Foraging
Morel hunting the way I do it is a lonely affair. Miles walked in a beaten, burned landscape. A morel here, a morel there. It's not the bonanza of a big burn, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Recipe
Who doesn't love pierogi? I mean really. Little pockets of goodness, boiled briefly then fried and served with caramelized onions, sour cream and dill? Heaven on a plate. I made these with wild mushrooms, but any mushroom will do.
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