'Shroom boat

[benhall.1]

Sometimes I wonder how you guys can tell your arses from a hole in the ground ...

There's a difference?

It's too early in my day for ontological philosophy.

Oh, I don't know. Sometimes the subject can be unbearably light.

[Nanohedron]

Stratospheric, even. But usually by then I'm floating off to bed.

[an seanduine]

I was told the ´dry-land fish´ moniker was given to morels by some of the Plains Tribes. When they came upon a seasonal stream or creek, a dry ´wash´, in addition to searching for places to dig ad hoc wells for water, would search along the tree line that often demarked the dry creek bed. These riparian trees were typically cottonwoods, which often have morels growing in amongst their roots.

And I sometimes wonder if the allure of the morel has much to do with the nature of the hunt. I've had a few and they were fine. But I remember being more excited about finding them than eating them. The search and the stalking of one's food all in the name of a morning's hike...

For me a sauteed morel tastes like fried walleye, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but it can be off-putting if what you're used to is button mushrooms. No doubt it's why it sometimes gets called "dry land fish".

I had a good friend who actually hired a bunch of guys to go through the woods in rural central Virginia gathering morels, which he sold to local restaurants. Every so often he'd get enough that he'd invite a bunch of us for dinner. That's when I fell in love with morels. The two dishes that really stood out for me were a pate and fettuccini alfredo. I can usually score a few in my yard -- they pop up in mulch. I just saute them in a little butter, and it's a minute of heaven for the wife and me.

They've never reminded me of fish.

Bob

[Nanohedron]

I was told the ´dry-land fish´ moniker was given to morels by some of the Plains Tribes.

And I thought the name was an Appalachian thing.

[an seanduine]

As Wanderer pointed out, Paul´s strain of block grown shii-take are quite fragrant, which leads to their other Chinese name ´fragrant mushroom´.香菰 xiang1gu1.

Bob

[Nanohedron]

Ah! I see. What do they smell like?

[an seanduine]

It´s hard to describe, and unfortunately my international keyboard doesn´t yet have the ´smell-writer´ extension. A kind of dark, funky, savoury smell. If you get the dried ones in your local Asian grocery and toss them into boiling water you can get the sense (scents ) of it.

Bob

[Nanohedron]

I suppose by now it's eminently clear that I haven't yet had shiitake mushrooms in my kitchen. Yes, I live under a rock.

[an seanduine]

A word of caution: Get ´em fresh at your local organic farmers market. Some of the dried ones out of SE Asia are grown with some wicked pesticides. ´Course, about the tiny mushroom maggots you find in your wild found ´shrooms, my Mushroom Guru used to say: At least you know what they´ve been eating.

Bob

[Nanohedron]

Excellent points all.

[Wanderer]

It´s hard to describe, and unfortunately my international keyboard doesn´t yet have the ´smell-writer´ extension. A kind of dark, funky, savoury smell. If you get the dried ones in your local Asian grocery and toss them into boiling water you can get the sense (scents ) of it.

Bob

Yup, funky and savory, for sure. I also detected an astringent characteristic..almost like garlic or shallot.

[an seanduine]

One of my absolute favorite Thai dishes is a ´Black Mushroom Stew´ http://www.realthairecipes.com/glossary ... mushrooms/
My friends from Chengdu have a luscious SiChuan take on this as well.

Bob

[chas]

Fresh shiitakes are another of life's pleasures. To me they have a spicy, almost horseradish-like, taste. The texture is also delicate, so for people who are turned off by the texture of button mushrooms, they may be palatable.

I had lobster mushrooms once, again courtesy of my mushroom-gathering friend. Way cool.

[Nanohedron]

Fresh shiitakes are another of life's pleasures. To me they have a spicy, almost horseradish-like, taste.

Damn. I love horseradish. Now I absolutely have to check it out.

[an seanduine]

There´s a wider taste range for shiitakes than you might expect. In Japan they grade them into four classes, with the ´Donko´ at the top. But actually this has more to do with appearance than flavor. Once you go to mainland Asia it is more like the Wild West. In the steamier jungle parts of China and SE Asia, you get a wider variety, some even having slight morphological anomalies. My guru was convinced there are Lentinula Edodes (Shiitake) lurking out in the bush to widen the field further.
Chas, I´ve never yet had the pleasure of the Lobster ´Shrooms, but I had a small secret patch that reliably produced a few
Russula Xerampalina--the ´Shrimp Russula´. One of the only mushrooms that I found ´crunchy´. I liked them well enough, but She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, who was also the book-keeper, said they had to go to the chefs. . .

Bob