Cookbook focused on wild mushrooms.

“A beautifully written portrait of the people who collect and distribute wild mushrooms . . . food and nature writing at its finest.”—Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia “A rollicking narrative . . . Cook [delivers] vivid and cinematic scenes on every page.”—The Wall Street Journal In the dark corners of America’s forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and enchanting ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta, the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature one of nature’s last truly wild foods: the uncultivated, uncontrollable mushroom. The mushroom hunters, by contrast, are a rough lot. They live in the wilderness and move with the seasons. Motivated by Gold Rush desires, they haul improbable quantities of fungi from the woods for cash. Langdon Cook embeds himself in this shadowy subculture, reporting from both rural fringes and big-city eateries with the flair of a novelist, uncovering along the way what might be the last gasp of frontier-style capitalism. Meet Doug, an ex-logger and crabber—now an itinerant mushroom picker trying to pay his bills and stay out of trouble; Jeremy, a former cook turned wild-food entrepreneur, crisscrossing the continent to build a business amid cutthroat competition; their friend Matt, an up-and-coming chef whose kitchen alchemy is turning heads; and the woman who inspires them all. Rich with the science and lore of edible fungi—from seductive chanterelles to exotic porcini—The Mushroom Hunters is equal parts gonzo travelogue and culinary history lesson, a fast-paced, character-driven tour through a world that is by turns secretive, dangerous, and quintessentially American.

"Whether you get your mushrooms from the supermarket or the forest floor, a worthy addition to your library." —Star Tribune Get ready to fall in love with wild mushrooms! Absolutely everything you need to know to make mushrooming a lifestyle choice, from finding, storing, preserving, and preparing common and unusual species. Packed with content and lore from more than 20 skilled foragers around the country, Wild Mushrooms will help mushroom hunters successfully utilize their harvest, and includes practical information on transporting, cleaning, and preserving their finds. One of the best things about cooking wild mushrooms is that every time you open your dried caches, their unique aroma recalls your foraging experience creating an immediate and visceral connection back to the forest. There is no finer way to appreciate food. You will not only learn the best ways to locate, clean, collect, and preserve your mushrooms from the experts, the book will also discuss safety and edibility, preservation techniques, mushroom sections and flavor profiles, and more. Recipes will be categorized by mushroom species, with 115 recipes in total. Recipes include:​ Smoked Marinated Wild Mushrooms Black Trumpet, Blood Orange, and Beet Salad Maitake Beef Stew Candy Cap and Walnut Scones Baked Brie with Chanterelle Jam Porcini with Braised Pork Medallions Yellowfoot Mushroom Tart And more! From pickling to rich duxelles, soups, salads, and even mushroom teas, tinctures, jams, and ice cream, these recipes and invaluable insider tips will delight everyone from the most discerning mycophiles to brand new fungus fanatics.

Many mushroom hunters prefer to do their foraging in the marketplace, where all the mushrooms are clearly labeled and safely edible. With this fact in mind, Arleen and Alan Bessette have written Taming the Wild Mushroom, one of the first cooking guides devoted exclusively to choosing and preparing the mushroom species now available in many grocery stores, supermarkets, and natural and whole foods markets. A dozen wild and cultivated species are covered in the book, including White Button, King Bolete, Oyster, Chanterelle, Morel, Paddy Straw, Wood Ear, Shiitake, Enokitake, White Matsutake, Black Truffle, and Wine-cap Stropharia. Easy-to-understand descriptions and excellent color photographs of each species help market foragers choose mushrooms in peak condition. Fifty-seven original, species-specific recipes, from appetizers, soups, and salads to meat and vegetarian entrees to sauces and accompaniments, offer dozens of ways to savor the familiar and exotic flavors of these mushrooms. A mouth-watering photograph accompanies each recipe.

ylvania, gives an account of his life-long fascination with mushrooms--hunting them, cooking them, and eating them--and provides 100 recipes for both exotic mushrooms and the "wild" varieties that are now widely available. 27 color photos.

A fully illustrated and user-friendly reference book that tells where and when to find edible mushrooms--with delicious recipes for each