How-To (DIY stuff)
Looking for Mr. Brown
I've been spending long days by myself, combing the piney woods of the High Sierra, looking for Mr. Brown, the spring porcini mushroom. I am happy to say I've found him.
Recipe
Grilled Porcini
When life blesses you with porcini mushrooms so beautiful you could just weep over them, the right thing to do is serve them simply. In this case, grilled with wild onions.
Recipe
Edible Amanitas: Vernicoccora
Sacramento is a haven for amanita mushrooms. Many are deadly. But not all. One, the coccora, is among the finest-tasting mushrooms in the world. But be very careful.
Mushrooms
Morel Sauce with Venison
It's morel season at last, and in celebration, I've revamped one of my favorite recipes for venison and morels. No fresh morels in your area yet? Use dried. They work fine in this recipe.
Foraging
Italian Marinated Mushrooms
Marinated mushrooms are a staple on any antipasti plate. They're not pickled so much as they are preserved. Here's how to do the technique the Italians call sott'olio.
Mushrooms
Lies, Lust and a Golden Treasure
When a passerby asked recently if I'd found any chanterelles, I casually told him no, even though my pack was full of them. Hiding your secret spots is all part of living off the wild.
Mushrooms
Of Trumpets, Hedgehogs and Yellowfeet
The winter mushrooms of California's North Coast are popping in earnest: Hedgehogs, black trumpets, yellowfoot chanterelles and candy caps!
Foraging
Eating Santa’s Shroom
Amanita muscaria can be a hallucinatory mushroom, a possible symbol of Santa and his flying reindeer. But it also can be eaten safely, if you do it right. So I decided to take a Christmas trip down the rabbit hole...
Recipe
Porcini Risotto
There's nothing quite like a porcini hunt. The mushrooms are huge, meaty and can go for $30 a pound or more, so finding them is like striking gold. And boy did we find them last weekend!
Foraging
Sichuan Stir Fry Puffballs
Puffballs are basically the tofu of the mushroom world, so I normally avoid them. But when I found lots of little puffballs recently, I decided to make Sichuan ma po tofu, only with puffballs instead of tofu!
Recipe
Grouse, Solitude and Solace
I hunted grouse in Minnesota last weekend, but did not shoot one. That's OK, because what I really needed in the Northwoods was quiet - and to escape the world within the comforts of cooking.
Recipe
New England Mushroom Bonanza
My family never hunted mushrooms when I grew up. But after an epic mushrooming trip on Cape Ann yesterday, they may well become mycophiles in a hurry.
