Fungus and Mushrooms

[Ellyn]

I figured that this was the best subforum for this thread, even though these are taxonomically strange ingredients.

Champingnon mushrooms are my favorite. Much as I enjoy Japanese cuisine, though, for some reason I don't really like shiitake mushrooms. Enokitake are all right, though.

I've had the privilege of tasting butter-fried Portabello mushrooms, which are rarely-stocked and quite expensive where I live... But have never had a real truffle.

I can work a champignon into anything savory, really. Soups, pastas, salads...

What's your favorite fungus/mushroom? Favorite recipe that includes it?

 

[Food4thought]

I like brown mushrooms best. These are sometimes known as chesnut mushrooms because of their slightly nutty taste.

I enjoy them in pasta dishes, vegetable stews and even raw in salads.

 

[Verity Darkwaters]

I won't lie, I haven't found a mushroom yet that I haven't liked. I know it is weird, but I love them. I would seriously put them in everything if I could. I really enjoy them raw as a snack. They are also very tasty in certain soups. I wouldn't put them in all, but some of them really enhance the flavor. I'd put them in stir-fries. Also stews as well and in pasta.

 

[firelily99]

Amen Verity, I am still trying to find one that I don't like. As long as its not poisonous then I will eat the mushroom. They really add so much to cooking and I love to stuff them!

 

[Ellyn]

My favorite author, Neil Gaiman, seems to really know his mushrooms. One of his creepy stories had a mention of inky cap mushrooms and instead of being creeped out I just got hungry. And the first entry when I discovered his blog was how excited he was to have found farm-fresh morels.

 

[OhioTom76]

I love mushrooms, especially when I am trying to cut back on my meat intake. They have such a wonderful meaty flavor, and they actually contain flavor compounds similar to MSG, which means they enhance all the other flavors of ingredients they are paired with too. I had never heard of "champignon" mushrooms, but after Googling them, they look like what we more commonly refer to as "button mushrooms" which are the most common variety available here in the US as far as I know. The more exotic varieties can be quite costly though, almost as expensive as meat itself, so I don't buy them as often.

I love mushrooms in rice pilaf, mushrooms in my pasta sauce, over my steaks or grilled chicken, and especially in a chicken marsala or a coq au vin.

One thing I read about online that I've been meaning to try suggested buying dried mushrooms, and pulverizing them in a spice grinder, then adding this mushroom powder to your ground beef when making burgers. That sounded genius and I can't wait to try it. But it also had me wondering if you could simply make a dry rub with mushroom powder instead.