Thread: Morel Mushroom Query

On May 18, 3:40 pm, Lou Decruss <LouDecr...@biteme.com> wrote:
> We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> sales at our weekend cottage community. Among many other good scores
> we got a pound of morels. I've never had them and only know people
> rave about them. The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. This
> was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> TIA
>
> Lou

Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
get mushy.

Just clean them a little (what critters???) and saute gently in
butter. Eat them fresh or not at all.

N.

Lou Decruss wrote:
> We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> sales at our weekend cottage community. Among many other good scores
> we got a pound of morels. I've never had them and only know people
> rave about them. The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. This
> was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> TIA
>
> Lou

I tend to do the same thing every time--since I like it and
generally only get one small amount of morels per year (or not
even every year).

I brush off overt dirt and trim the stem as need be--maybe peer
for overt signs of, er, unadvertised protein. Then saute them in
butter with a bit of minced shallot. I add some sour cream and a
wee bit of lemon juice and cognac (or something of that ilk).
Usually I serve this on a split croissant.

I tried putting them in scrambled eggs, also the same mixture in
an omelet. In the first, they were overpowered; the second wasn't
as good as the croissant version.

I THINK my concoction would also be good with some kind of noodles
or other pasta....

If I had a lot of them, and IF I could find sweetbreads, I'd be
tempted to do sweetbreads in a morel cream sauce.

--
Jean B.

Nancy2 replied to Lou:

>> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
>> incredibly expensive fungi?

> Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> get mushy.

We never had ours around long enough to freeze! I did find this link for
preserving them and it talks about freezing. Most of the suggestions say
you prepare them as if you were going to fry them. Come to think of it,
it's how she would freeze excess okra. Never in the simply raw state.

http://thegreatmorel.com/recipes2.html

> Just clean them a little (what critters???) and saute gently in
> butter. Eat them fresh or not at all.

Mom always soaked ours as well. The favored method of cooking back in
the day was the egg batter and fried method. It seemed like we fried
EVERYTHING back then. I wondered how my mom stayed so skinny -- she
wasn't eating what she cooked. LOL! I would sauté, but my sisters (those
that like mushrooms) preferred them battered and crispy.

Bob would probably use them as the base for a sauce. We haven't come
across Morels out here (yet).

--Lin

Lou Decruss <[email protected]> wrote:

> This
> was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.

It does not seem OK to me. I'd say you pretty much ruined them for
anything but soup (and they are not the best mushrooms for soup even
when fresh). You'd have done much better by drying them properly. If
you are going to use them, try putting them into a cooking dish without
thawing them first.

Victor

Lou Decruss wrote:
> We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> sales at our weekend cottage community. Among many other good scores
> we got a pound of morels. I've never had them and only know people
> rave about them. The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. This
> was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> TIA
>
> Lou

Stuffed "a la forestiere" i have mentioned here a number of times.
Googleing jpstifel+morilles farcies should get the recipe.

I have not heard of 'critters' being in morels but i am told one should
open and wash thoroughly to dislodge any grit or sand or small particles
of dirt that might have got inside.

The Morilles Farcies a la Forestiere is made with a meat & mushroom
stuffing (using the morel stalks & a shrimp or chicken sausage is my
preference).

THe morels are sliced open on one side (stems removed) stuffed with the
prepared duxelles & sausage stuffing mix, placed in a buttered
earthenware container, cut side down, sprinkled with very fine dry white
bread crumbs and melted butter and cooked in a moderate oven.

I have never had enough of them at any one time to experiment with a lot
of different recipes but if one wants to sautŽ them, use very hot
clarified butter, either egged & bred crumbed or not, but carefully and
quickly so as not to let the moisture from the morels be exuded, keep
them plump and moist.

There are various ways of preparing them, in cream, croute aux, de
chateline, tourte, tartlet's, croquettes and they are sometimes used in
risotto and other dishes for which edible fungi would be appropriate.
--
JL

Right now morels are selling for $10lb which is really cheap
( sometimes they are up to $20lb).
A quick rinse under water, split them down the middle to remove any
dirt or ants that may have crawled up the inside of the stem, let
them dry out a bit on paper towel in the fridge then freeze or fry up
in some butter, salt, pepper. If you are going to freeze them clean
and let them dry out a bit before freezing. If they are a bit
leathery before freezing they do not get mush when fried later. Seems
like a good year for morels here in Wisconsin.

Joseph Littleshoes wrote:

> The Morilles Farcies a la Forestiere is made with a meat & mushroom
> stuffing (using the morel stalks & a shrimp or chicken sausage is my
> preference).
>
> THe morels are sliced open on one side (stems removed) stuffed with the
> prepared duxelles & sausage stuffing mix, placed in a buttered
> earthenware container, cut side down, sprinkled with very fine dry white
> bread crumbs and melted butter and cooked in a moderate oven.

Oooh, that does sound yummmmy ... Not having found morels around her
yet, do you think this recipe would work with portobellos, or should I
try a smaller cap mushroom? We have a "mushroom guy" at our farmers'
market. So far it's been portobellos, criminis, whites, and oyster
mushrooms. I'd seen King and golden mushrooms last year. I suppose I
could ask him about getting his hands on some morels for us -- or even
chanterelles!

--Lin

On May 18, 4:09*pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo...@uiowa.edu> wrote:
> On May 18, 3:40 pm, Lou Decruss <LouDecr...@biteme.com> wrote:
>
> > We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> > sales at our weekend cottage community. * Among many other good scores
> > we got a pound of morels. *I've never had them and only know people
> > rave about them. *The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> > way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> > One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. *This
> > was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> > Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> > incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> > TIA
>
> > Lou
>
> Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> get mushy.
>
> Just clean them a little (what critters???)

Worms. I've seen 'em.

> and saute gently in butter. *Eat them fresh or not at all.

With a little cracked black pepper.
>
> N.

--Bryan

Bobo Bonobo® wrote:
> On May 18, 4:09 pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo...@uiowa.edu> wrote:
>
>>On May 18, 3:40 pm, Lou Decruss <LouDecr...@biteme.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
>>>sales at our weekend cottage community. Among many other good scores
>>>we got a pound of morels. I've never had them and only know people
>>>rave about them. The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
>>>way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
>>>One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. This
>>>was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>>
>>>Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
>>>incredibly expensive fungi?
>>
>>>TIA
>>
>>>Lou
>>
>>Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
>>anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
>>get mushy.
>>
>>Just clean them a little (what critters???)
>
>
> Worms. I've seen 'em.

Slugs. A brief saltwater soak will flush them out. I know slugs are
next of kin to snails and people eat *those* things but I'd just as soon
not.

Morels are great but as a kid it took a lot of convincing to get me to
try one after I saw what came out of the ones we picked from the woods
behind our house. IMO, the saltwater soak is pretty much mandatory.

Lin wrote:
> Joseph Littleshoes wrote:
>
>> The Morilles Farcies a la Forestiere is made with a meat & mushroom
>> stuffing (using the morel stalks & a shrimp or chicken sausage is my
>> preference).
>>
>> THe morels are sliced open on one side (stems removed) stuffed with
>> the prepared duxelles & sausage stuffing mix, placed in a buttered
>> earthenware container, cut side down, sprinkled with very fine dry
>> white bread crumbs and melted butter and cooked in a moderate oven.
>
>
> Oooh, that does sound yummmmy ... Not having found morels around her
> yet, do you think this recipe would work with portobellos, or should I
> try a smaller cap mushroom? We have a "mushroom guy" at our farmers'
> market. So far it's been portobellos, criminis, whites, and oyster
> mushrooms. I'd seen King and golden mushrooms last year. I suppose I
> could ask him about getting his hands on some morels for us -- or even
> chanterelles!
>
> --Lin

I have often wondered about taking some of the really hugh chanterelles
to be found in the local Asian shopping area and after splitting them
down the middle, scooping out some flesh to form pockets in the thick
stems, use the scooped mushroom flesh chopped fine as a component of a
stuffing for the hollowed out chanterelles. I use a similar technique
on eggplant.

if you have a stuffing you like it can be used with any of the mushrooms
you mention, button or portobellos. Any mushroom that can be 'stuffed'
the oyster mushrooms might be a bit of a problem to stuff but they are
so good as an ingredient i wont hesitate to use a few in a fine dice as
part of a stuffing.

There are a number of 'forcemeat' recipes, ground meat 'sausage' type
mixtures that are used in French cooking to stuff the mushrooms with as
well as various bread 'panadas' or stuffing's either of which can be
used separately or in combination.

Often a delicately flavored meat like chicken and/or shrimp is used for
stuffing mushrooms, their delicate flavor complementing the delicacy of
the mushroom.

A white wine sauce can accompany these stuffed mushrooms, though many of
the compound butters or even a bŽchamel or mornay sauce is good, a nutty
sauce genoise is good but a pain to make and many people like hot
stuffed mushrooms served with any number of the cold mayonnaise tartar
type sauces such as gribiche or ravigote.
--
JL

In article
<[email protected]>,
Bobo Bonobo® <[email protected]> wrote:

> On May 18, 4:09*pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo...@uiowa.edu> wrote:

> > Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> > anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> > get mushy.
> >
> > Just clean them a little (what critters???)
>
> Worms. I've seen 'em.

I've never bought a mushroom with a critter in it, but I mostly buy
cultivated mushrooms. I've seen plenty of mushrooms in the wild, either
with critters or chunks missing due to critters. Around here it's
mostly slugs and snails. If people like to eat them, why shouldn't the
critters?

> > and saute gently in butter. *Eat them fresh or not at all.

I plan to get some morels and cook them. Last two times I visited my
dad he talked about them. He said they'd pick them when he was a boy.
I think he said his mom sliced them, dredged them in flour and fried
them in butter. He grew up in Kansas. I was skeptical, but I did a
Google and found lots of references to wild morels in Kansas. The cost
doesn't scare me. We'll probably go out to steak when I'm up there.
That's US$20 a person plus tax and tip, and my dad doesn't even like
steak. When I was a kid, all meat was cooked to well done.
Fortunately, we couldn't afford steak. I still hate pot roast.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
[email protected]

Lin wrote:

>>> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
>>> incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> Bob would probably use them as the base for a sauce. We haven't come
> across Morels out here (yet).

Several ideas:

Cook them in a tightly-covered pot over low heat with butter and serve on
toast.

Slice them and stuff them under the skin of a chicken to be roasted.

Cook morels and fava beans separately, combine them, add ribbons of
prosciutto, and drizzle with top-quality olive oil. Serve at room
temperature, sprinkling with coarse salt just before serving.

Cook in the drippings from roast beef, add a tiny bit of mustard and
tarragon, and serve as a side dish with the beef.

Bob

Lou Decruss <[email protected]>
news:[email protected]: in rec.food.cooking

> We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> sales at our weekend cottage community. Among many other good scores
> we got a pound of morels. I've never had them and only know people
> rave about them. The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. This
> was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> incredibly expensive fungi?

Simplicity is my fave here. Dredge in flour and fry in butter or saute' in
butter. Delish...

Michael


--
“He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your
words.”
~Elbert Hubbard

You can find me at: - michael at lonergan dot us dot com

On 19 May 2009 12:40:43 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\""
<don'[email protected]> wrote:

>Simplicity is my fave here. Dredge in flour and fry in butter or saute' in
>butter. Delish...
>
Fry them? I liked BT's idea of cooking along with beef, but if all
the suggestions other than that are the way to enjoy a morel, I'm not
missing out on much.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On May 18, 4:49*pm, Lin <grafixbunny2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Nancy2 replied to Lou:
>
> >> Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> >> incredibly expensive fungi?
> > Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> > anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> > get mushy.
>
> We never had ours around long enough to freeze! I did find this link for
> preserving them and it talks about freezing. Most of the suggestions say
> you prepare them as if you were going to fry them. Come to think of it,
> it's how she would freeze excess okra. Never in the simply raw state.
>
> http://thegreatmorel.com/recipes2.html
>
> > Just clean them a little (what critters???) and saute gently in
> > butter. *Eat them fresh or not at all.
>
> Mom always soaked ours as well. The favored method of cooking back in
> the day was the egg batter and fried method. It seemed like we fried
> EVERYTHING back then. I wondered how my mom stayed so skinny -- she
> wasn't eating what she cooked. LOL! I would sauté, but my sisters (those
> that like mushrooms) preferred them battered and crispy.
>
> Bob would probably use them as the base for a sauce. We haven't come
> across Morels out here (yet).
>
> --Lin

The site I saw later said "freeze-dried." There's a difference. I
suppose if you're just after flavor, not the texture of fresh,
freezing would be fine.

N.

On May 18, 8:15*pm, Kathleen <khhfmdeletet...@charter.net> wrote:
> Bobo Bonobo® wrote:
> > On May 18, 4:09 pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo...@uiowa.edu> wrote:
>
> >>On May 18, 3:40 pm, Lou Decruss <LouDecr...@biteme.com> wrote:
>
> >>>We just got back from a long weekend that included the yearly garage
> >>>sales at our weekend cottage community. * Among many other good scores
> >>>we got a pound of morels. *I've never had them and only know people
> >>>rave about them. *The lady who was selling them claimed her favorite
> >>>way to cook them was an egg wash and light breading before frying up.
> >>>One site said to soak in salt water to kill the little critters. *This
> >>>was an impulse purchase so they're now frozen which seems to be ok.
>
> >>>Anyone have any tried and true experiences/recipes for these
> >>>incredibly expensive fungi?
>
> >>>TIA
>
> >>>Lou
>
> >>Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> >>anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> >>get mushy.
>
> >>Just clean them a little (what critters???)
>
> > Worms. *I've seen 'em.
>
> Slugs. *A brief saltwater soak will flush them out. *I know slugs are
> next of kin to snails and people eat *those* things but I'd just as soon
> not.
>
> Morels are great but as a kid it took a lot of convincing to get me to
> try one after I saw what came out of the ones we picked from the woods
> behind our house. *IMO, the saltwater soak is pretty much mandatory.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Fresh water works as well, and doesn't affect the taste. Some info I
found yesterday says to forget the salt bath.

I've never found any critters in the Morels I've had (local) but that
doesn't mean there aren't ever any.

N.

On May 18, 10:14*pm, Dan Abel <da...@sonic.net> wrote:
> In article
> <29e9943e-44cc-4753-b5b0-dd28878c6...@n4g2000vba.googlegroups.com>,
> *Bobo Bonobo® <CLASS...@BRICK.NET> wrote:
>
> > On May 18, 4:09*pm, Nancy2 <nancy-doo...@uiowa.edu> wrote:
> > > Oh, man, I don't think they should have been frozen...I don't know
> > > anyone here in Morel country who freezes them. I would think they'd
> > > get mushy.
>
> > > Just clean them a little (what critters???)
>
> > Worms. *I've seen 'em.
>
> I've never bought a mushroom with a critter in it, but I mostly buy
> cultivated mushrooms. *I've seen plenty of mushrooms in the wild, either
> with critters or chunks missing due to critters. *Around here it's
> mostly slugs and snails. *If people like to eat them, why shouldn't the
> critters?
>
> > > and saute gently in butter. *Eat them fresh or not at all.
>
> I plan to get some morels and cook them. *Last two times I visited my
> dad he talked about them. *He said they'd pick them when he was a boy. *
> I think he said his mom sliced them, dredged them in flour and fried
> them in butter. *He grew up in Kansas. *I was skeptical, but I did a
> Google and found lots of references to wild morels in Kansas. *The cost
> doesn't scare me. *We'll probably go out to steak when I'm up there. *
> That's US$20 a person plus tax and tip, and my dad doesn't even like
> steak. *When I was a kid, all meat was cooked to well done. *
> Fortunately, we couldn't afford steak. *I still hate pot roast.
>
> --
> Dan Abel
> Petaluma, California USA
> da...@sonic.net

Perfect morel weather is very, very damp (rainy, but not necessarily
gully-washers) followed by a really unseasonably hot sunny day. They
just pop up. Look for them in wooded areas around fallen dead trees,
oaks especially. After you find one or two, you'll know what to look
for. They're kind of hard to see among the winter leaf detritus
unless they're kinda big. And if you find a good spot, don't tell
ANYONE where it is.

N.

Nancy2 wrote:

> Perfect morel weather is very, very damp (rainy, but not necessarily
> gully-washers) followed by a really unseasonably hot sunny day. They
> just pop up. Look for them in wooded areas around fallen dead trees,
> oaks especially. After you find one or two, you'll know what to look
> for. They're kind of hard to see among the winter leaf detritus
> unless they're kinda big. And if you find a good spot, don't tell
> ANYONE where it is.

In Oklahoma, we actually had two seasons when the morels would pop up.
Warm and humid go hand-in-hand there. My folks lived on a huge wooded
acreage with a creek flowing through the middle. While my dad was still
alive they had cattle that would roam through there and my mom thinks
that their droppings helped to fertilize and promote mushroom growth.
She says that since the cattle are gone, she hasn't found many -- but
these days she isn't looking either.

My great aunt and uncle would drive in from New Mexico upon getting
their "Morel Alert" and go home with buckets of them. I believe I posted
a picture here of one of their hauls.

--Lin

pamjd wrote:

> Right now morels are selling for $10lb which is really cheap
> ( sometimes they are up to $20lb).

Our Tuesday farmers' market is in the parking lot of a Whole Foods. I just
went to the farmers' market and ducked in to Whole Foods to buy some
galangal. They had baskets of morels going for $45.99 per pound.

I don't like them *that* much!

Bob