Mushroom Magic

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 921, 5 April 1957, Page 22

Mushroom Magic

HERE are many requests for mushroom recipes. Freshlypicked mushrooms are a real delicacy. The canned mushroom soups and the dried and packeted variety, although most useful (being available all the year), are really but a pale echo of a generous helping of fried fresh mushrooms, with bacon, or grilled chops, or steak. Of course, there is the little job of peeling them first, although if they are freshly picked and tender you need not peel them alljust wash and gently scrub with a soft brush. At least, that is what I was told in America, but I’ve never found it practicable. Dry some of the broken ones and the stalks in a cooling oven until shrivelled; then store them in paper bags and use them up in winter as flavourings in stews or meat pies or puddings, either soaked first in water or rubbed into a coarse powder. Stewed Mushrooms Remove skins and stalks from 1 Ib. mushrooms. melt 2 oz. butter in a saucepan, add juice of half a lemon, put in the mushrooms, season with pepper and salt, cover and cook gently for 20 to 30 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, Mix a tablespoon flour with a breakfast cup milk, pour this into the saucepan, stir and simmer for a few minutes till blended and_ thickened. Serve with hot toast. Baked. Mushrooms with Devilled Steak Removd stems from a pound of mushrooms, put them in a greased casserole, cut tips off stems, slice them, and add to casserole. Mix 2 tablespoons butter, 114 teaspoons salt, dash of cayenne pepper, % cup of top milk, and pour over mushrooms. Cover and bake in a moderate oven (about 375 degrees) about 50 minutes or till tender. Stir once during the baking, without spoiling the shape of mushrooms. May be served on toast or with devilled steak. Have this cut an inch thick, and having scored it with a knife, squeeze the juice of a lemon over each side. Mix up 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 dessertspoon any dark jam, 1 large dessertspoon Worcester sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon each pepper and salt, 1 or 2 tablespoons vinegar. Pour it over the steak, pressing steak well into it. Soak 2 hours, then grill. Heat any of "devil" left and pour over as sauce, Mushrooms Grilled or Broiled Wash the mushrooms thoroughly, remove the stems and keep them for soup next day. Put the mushrooms with rounded side down in-a shallow baking dish. In the upturned cavity of each put half a teaspoon of butter, sprinkle with pepper, salt, a dash of nutmeg if liked, and a drop or two of lemon juice. Brush the surface with melted butter and cook at the top of a fairly hot oven for 5 to 10 minutes. They could also be grilled under the griller. $ Mushroom Ketchup (1) Gather mushrooms freshly in morning. Put in earthernware basin, sprinkle with salt. Leave overnight, or longer. Bring slowly to boil, simmer 30 to 40 minutes, Strain through muslin. Put liquid on again, boil another 30 to 35 minutes, having added seasoning of black peppercorns, a little cayenne pep- | per, cloves and a little mace. Strain all

and bottle when cold. Should keep about two years. (2). Wipe fresh mushrooms. sprinkle

with salt (not too much), and allow to stand in a crock in a warm place for 24 hours, covered with a damp cloth. Then mash well and strain. To every quart of juice add 1 oz. peppercorns. Boil % hour. Then add 1 oz. allspice, 1 blade mace or a little. powdered mace, 42 oz. root ginger to each quart, and simmer for another 15 minutes, Remove from fire and let get cold. Then reboil for 15 minutes, and again cool, Reboil for 15 minutes longer, then strain, bottle and seal, This is a very old recipe, and the repeated boiling is a special feature-it makes the best ketchup. The boiling may be repeated as many as six times. Mushroom Omelette Chop enough peeled mushrooms, caps and stems, to make 11 cups. Fry lightly 5 minutes or until tender in 2° tablespoons butter. Season with salt and pepper and a few grains nutmeg. Add to an ordinary omelette as ‘a filling. Mushrooms Preserved (a) If possible, cook on day they are picked-in any case, not later than the following day. Peel, and place in layers in pot or preserving pan. Sprinkle each layer lightly with salt. When juice flows, put over gentle heat, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon, When sufficient

juice is there, increase heat and boil till cooked. Turn into basin, and when cool pack firmly into jars, fill with their own 4uice to within 4% inch of the top. Seal. Put in water bath and sterilise at boiling point for 2 hours. Take out and store. If there is more juice than needed for jars, add mace, peppercorns, salt and ginger to taste, boil 42 hour, and thus make ketchup. (b) A quick way: Peel mushrooms and sprinkle with salt, pack carefully into sterilised jars without adding any water. Cover lightly with lid and place in water-bath (on rack or cloth so that they do not touch bottom of bath). Have water in bath a little more than half-way up the jars. Keep steam in with lid or improvised cover. Bring water gradually to boiling point and boil for half an hour, when it will be found that the mushrooms have shrivelled up and expelled their own juice. Remove the jars from the water and fill up one from another, then return to steriliser and allow to boil gently for another hour. When done screw down the lids tightly. Buttered Eggs with Mushrooms (English) Half a pound of mushrooms, 2 oz. butter, 4 eggs, 4 tablespoons milk, salt and pepper, slices of buttered toast. Peel mushrooms, melt 1 oz. butter in frying pan, lay in mushrooms (gills uppermost) and fry until tender. Melt other ounce of butter in saucepan, beat eggs to a froth with the milk, season with salt and pepper, and add to the butter when it begins to bubble. Stir briskly over slow fire till mixture thickens. Have ready some slices of buttered toast, heap eggs in centre of each, and arrange mushrooms

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