Introduction
People say that recipes are not really invented, they are created out of necessity. The same thing could be said about this webpage. As a mushroom picker, aficionado, the kind of person that has a collection of rare mushroom books on display and a variety of dried mushrooms stashed around his kitchen year round, I am often confused by The People Who Don’t Like Mushrooms or T.P.W.D.L.M. This book has been written to convert them, maybe not into full blown mycophiles but at least into People Who Like Some Wild Mushrooms or P.W.L.S.W.M.
As a mycologist, taxonomist, and cultivator of mushrooms I find meeting T.P.W.D.L.M. puzzling. You don’t like mushrooms? What does that even mean? It is like telling a botanist that you just don’t like fruit. What kind of fruit are we talking about? Bananas? Blueberries? Cooked? Uncooked? Juice? Muffins? Jellies? What are we talking about here? I encounter these people, T.P.W.D.L.M., frighteningly often.
The diversity of species, textures, and flavors available in the mushroom world is similar to the diversity of fruits. Therefore, it is strange to think that because a person dislikes one kind of mushroom, they would dislike them all or even any recipe that includes mushrooms.
As a mycologist, taxonomist, and cultivator of mushrooms I find meeting T.P.W.D.L.M. puzzling. You don’t like mushrooms? What does that even mean? It is like telling a botanist that you just don’t like fruit. What kind of fruit are we talking about? Bananas? Blueberries? Cooked? Uncooked? Juice? Muffins? Jellies? What are we talking about here? I encounter these people, T.P.W.D.L.M., frighteningly often.
The diversity of species, textures, and flavors available in the mushroom world is similar to the diversity of fruits. Therefore, it is strange to think that because a person dislikes one kind of mushroom, they would dislike them all or even any recipe that includes mushrooms.
The vastness of mushroom varieties is often overlooked. When people hear the word “mushroom”, they often think of White Button mushrooms from the grocery store, completely overlooking the diversity of aromas, flavors and textures available in the world of wild mushrooms!
Wild mushrooms, as the name implies, are not cultivated and therefore are more expensive and harder to aquire than other mushrooms because wild mushrooms are so different and they need to be prepared differently.
Wild mushrooms, as the name implies, are not cultivated and therefore are more expensive and harder to aquire than other mushrooms because wild mushrooms are so different and they need to be prepared differently.
I blame the existence of T.P.W.D.L.M. on inexperienced cooks. These cooks are giving the wild mushrooms a bad name. These “cooks” have created T.P.W.D.L.M.
Let’s look at an example, a food all cooks are familiar with, the Potato. Any beginner cook knows that you should cook by boiling or baking any potato before frying. Failure to do so will result in a slimy grey mess. Likewise a fried potato chip without some other flavoring would also be considered unpalatable by many. Raw potatoes are seldom served or enjoyed. The problem is the cooking technique, not the potato.
Mushrooms are 90% water and, therefore, it is very easy for an inexperienced cook to make them slimy and gross. Remember when cooking mushrooms, first you need to get the moisture out then put the flavor back into the mushroom. After all, like our potato example, the mushroom itself is a vessel for delivering the spices and flavorings to your palate. Controlling the texture of the mushrooms and pairing the mushroom’s subtle flavor with the right balance of spices, foods and wines is the real art of cooking mushrooms.
Fortunately for you, the reader, my colleagues and I have spent years studying these flavor pairings and the subtle in’s and out’s of wild mushroom cooking. This we page is by no means a complete list and a few key species of wild mushrooms have been left out because they do not grow in the author’s region. We hope this book will be a good start to converting T.P.W.D.L.M. into People Who Like Some Wild Mushrooms.
Enjoy and Bon Appétit!
Let’s look at an example, a food all cooks are familiar with, the Potato. Any beginner cook knows that you should cook by boiling or baking any potato before frying. Failure to do so will result in a slimy grey mess. Likewise a fried potato chip without some other flavoring would also be considered unpalatable by many. Raw potatoes are seldom served or enjoyed. The problem is the cooking technique, not the potato.
Mushrooms are 90% water and, therefore, it is very easy for an inexperienced cook to make them slimy and gross. Remember when cooking mushrooms, first you need to get the moisture out then put the flavor back into the mushroom. After all, like our potato example, the mushroom itself is a vessel for delivering the spices and flavorings to your palate. Controlling the texture of the mushrooms and pairing the mushroom’s subtle flavor with the right balance of spices, foods and wines is the real art of cooking mushrooms.
Fortunately for you, the reader, my colleagues and I have spent years studying these flavor pairings and the subtle in’s and out’s of wild mushroom cooking. This we page is by no means a complete list and a few key species of wild mushrooms have been left out because they do not grow in the author’s region. We hope this book will be a good start to converting T.P.W.D.L.M. into People Who Like Some Wild Mushrooms.
Enjoy and Bon Appétit!
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