Cooking Mushrooms.

Fresh mushrooms, well cooked and well served, are one of the most delicious of all vegetables. If we grow our own mushrooms we can gather them in their finest form, cook them as we please, and enjoy them in their most delightful condition. If we are dependent upon the fields we should be careful to gather only such mushrooms as are young, plump, and fresh, and reject all that are old or discolored, or betray any signs of the presence of disease or insects. And in the case of store mushrooms, that is, the ones we get at the fruiterer’s or other provision store, we should examine them critically before using them to see that they are perfectly free from “flock,” “black spot,” “maggots,” or other ailment, and discard all that have any symptoms of disease.

The small, short-stemmed, white-skinned mushrooms offered for sale are of the variety known as French mushrooms, and on account of their white appearance are preferred by many; the longer-stemmed, broader-headed, and darker-colored kind that we also find offered for sale is what is known as the English mushroom. The French mushrooms are the most attractive in appearance and preferred in the market, but the English variety is the best flavored and generally the most liked for home use.

As soon as the frill around the neck breaks apart the mushroom is fit to gather; keeping it longer may add to its size a little, but surely will detract from its tenderness. The gills of the mushrooms will retain their pink tinge for a day after the frill breaks open, but they soon grow browner and blacker, until in a few days they are unfit for food. In gathering, the mushrooms should be pulled and never cut, and kept in this way until ready to prepare them for cooking. By retaining the stem uncut the mushroom holds its freshness and plumpness much longer than it would were the stems removed. Keep them in a cool, dark place, and in an earthenware vessel with a cover or a thick, damp cloth thrown over it; this will preserve their plumpness. If the frill is broken wide apart when the mushrooms are gathered, the caps are apt to open out flat in a day or two, and the gills darken and spread their spores, just as if the mushrooms were still unsevered from the ground.

Carefully inspect the mushrooms before cooking them. If the gills are black and the mushrooms are too old do not use them; if the cap is perforated by insects discard it, as it is very likely there are maggots inside; or if there are dark brown spots ("black spot”) on the top of the caps throw the mushrooms away. Old mushrooms are tough, ill-looking, bad-tasting and indigestible, and those infested by insects, although not poisonous, are very repugnant, and should not be used. But the dangerous mushroom is the one affected by “Flock.”

Mushrooms should be gathered free from grit; if at all gritty they require washing, which spoils them. All large mushrooms should be peeled before they are cooked; the skin of the cap parts freely from the flesh, but the skin of the stem must be rubbed or scraped off. The gills should not be removed as they are the most delicate meat of the mushroom, but if the mushrooms are old and intended for soup the gills should be scraped out with the view of getting rid of their darkening influence in the soup. In the case of small button mushrooms, which can not be readily skinned, they should be rubbed over with a soft cloth dipped in vinegar, so as to remove the outer part of the skin. While the stems may be retained with the buttons, they should always be removed from the full-grown mushrooms.

Mushrooms should always be served hot, and they should be eaten as soon as cooked. In the case of baked mushrooms and others prepared in a somewhat similar way they should be covered in the oven by an inverted dish, soup plate, basin, or the like, and if possible brought to the table in this way and without the cover removed. Set the tin upon a mat or cold plate upon the table, then uncover and serve on hot plates. By this means the delicious aroma is preserved.

Baked Mushrooms.- Peel and stem the mushrooms, rub and sprinkle a little salt on the gills, and lay the mushrooms, gills up, on a shallow baking tin and put a small piece of butter on each mushroom. Place an inverted saucer or deep plate over them in the tin, and put them into a brisk oven for about twenty minutes. Then take them out and serve upon a hot plate, without spilling any of the juice that has collected in the middle of each mushroom. Send to table and eat at once. This is the common way of cooking mushrooms, and by it is secured the true mushroom aroma and taste in their perfection.

Stewed Mushrooms.- Peel and stem the mushrooms. Take an enameled saucepan, put a lump of butter in it and melt it, then put in the mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper and a small piece of pounded mace (if you like it), then cover the saucepan tightly and stew the mushrooms gently until they are tender, which will be in about half an hour. Have ready some toast, either dry or fried in butter, as preferred; spread out upon a hot dish, place the mushrooms upon the toast, with the gills uppermost, pour the juice over them, and serve hot. Button mushrooms are the ones usually selected for stewing, but while nicer and whiter they are not so finely flavored as the full sized ones.

Another way of preparing stewed mushrooms is to stem and peel them; dip in water containing lemon juice (this is to prevent their becoming dark-colored in cooking, or giving a dark color to the stew), and drain them dry. Put them into a stewpan, with a good-sized lump of butter and some nice gravy, and let them stew for about ten minutes. Take a little stock or cream, beat up some flour in it quite smooth, and add a little lemon juice and grated nutmeg. Add this to the mushrooms and cook briskly for about ten minutes longer, or until tender.

Soyer’s Breakfast Mushrooms.- Place some freshly-made toast, divided, on a dish, and put the mushrooms, stemmed and peeled, gills upward upon it; add a little pepper and salt and put a small bit of butter in the middle of each mushroom. Pour a teaspoonful of cream over each, and add one clove for the whole dish. Put an inverted basin over the whole. Bake for twenty or twenty-five minutes, and do not remove the basin until the dish is brought to the table, so as to preserve the grateful aroma. A delightful dish.

Mushrooms a la Creme.- Peel and stem the mushrooms, roll a lump of butter in flour and put it into the saucepan, then add the mushrooms and some salt, white pepper, a little sugar and finely chopped parsley. Stew for ten minutes. Take the yolks of two eggs beaten up with two large spoonfuls of cream, and add the mixture gradually to the stew; cook for a few minutes longer, and serve hot. This is a delicious dish, but the fine mushroom flavor is not as pronounced in it as it is in the plain bake or stew.

Curried Mushrooms.- Peel and stem a pound of mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, add a little butter, and stew gently for fifteen or twenty minutes in a little good stock or gravy. Then add four tablespoonfuls of cream and one teaspoonful of good curry powder previously well mixed with two teaspoonfuls of wheat flour. Mix carefully and cook for five or ten minutes longer, and serve on hot toast on hot plates. A capital dish much enjoyed by those who like curry.

Broiled Mushrooms.- Select large, open, fresh mushrooms, stem and peel them. Put them on the gridiron, stem side down, over a bright but not very hot fire, and cook for three minutes. Then turn them and put a small piece of butter in the middle of each, and broil for about ten minutes longer. Put them in hot plates, gills upward, and place another small piece of butter on each mushroom, together with a little pepper and salt, and flavor with lemon juice or Chili vinegar, and put them into the oven for a minute or two. Then send them to table.

Mushroom Soup.- Take a quantity of fresh young mushrooms, and peel and stem them. Stew them with a little butter, pepper and salt, and some good stock, till tender; take them out and chop them up quite small; prepare a good stock, as for any other soup, and add it to the mushrooms and the liquor they have been stewed in. Boil all together, and serve. If white soup is required use white button mushrooms and a good veal stock, adding a spoonful of cream or a little milk as the color may require. This is a nice soup and tastes good. If the mushrooms are very young they have but little flavor; if they are full grown they darken the soup, and if they are brown in the gills when used the soup will be disagreeably dark. If, after preparing, but before cooking the mushrooms, you pour some boiling water over them and into this drop a little vinegar or lemon juice, then drain them off through a colander, you can prevent, to a great extent, their darkening influence on the soup, but always at the expense of their flavor.

Mushroom Stems.- The stems of young, fresh mushrooms are excellent to eat, but those of old or stale mushrooms are unfit for food. In the case of plump, fresh, full-sized mushrooms, the upper part of the stem, that is, the portion between the frill and the socket in the cap, is used, but the portion below the frill, that is, the “root” end, is discarded. Any part of the stem that is discolored or tough or woody should be rejected, and only the portion that is succulent and brittle and of a clean white color at any time used. The stems are nearly always retained in “button” mushrooms when they are cooked, and the upper or succulent parts of the stems of plump, fresh, full-grown mushrooms are often cooked along with the caps, but when cooking full-grown mushrooms we prefer, in all cases, to completely remove the stems from the mushrooms, and cook both separately. The stems are not so tender or deliciously flavored as are the caps, but are excellent for ketchup, or flavoring, or a sauce for eating with boiled fowl. In cooking the stems they should be peeled by scraping, for they can not be skinned like the caps.

Potted Mushrooms.- Select nice button or unopen mushrooms, and to a quart of these add three ounces of fresh butter, and stew gently in an enameled saucepan, shaking them frequently to prevent burning. After a few minutes dust a little finely powdered salt, a little spice, and a few grains of cayenne over them, and stew until tender. When cooked turn them into a colander standing in a basin, and leave them there until cold; then press them into small potting-jars, and fill up the jars with warm clarified butter, and cover with paper tied down and brushed over with melted suet to exclude the air. Keep in a cool, dry place. The gravy should be retained for flavoring other gravies, sauces, etc.

Gilbert’s Breakfast Mushrooms.- Get half grown mushrooms, peel them and lay them, gills-side upward, on a plate; put to each a small piece of butter, but only one layer thick; pepper and salt to taste; add two tablespoonfuls of ketchup and one of water; press round the rim of the plate a strip of paste, get another plate of the same size pressed firmly in the paste; put the whole in a brisk oven for twenty-five minutes. The top plate should be left on until served.

Baked Mushrooms.- (A breakfast, luncheon, or supper dish.) Ingredients: Sixteen or twenty mushroom flaps, butter, pepper to taste. Mode. For this mode of cooking the mushroom flaps are better than the buttons, and should not be too large. Cut off a portion of stalk, peel the top, and wipe the mushrooms carefully with a piece of flannel and a little fine salt. Put them into a tin baking dish, with a very small piece of butter placed on each mushroom; sprinkle over a little pepper, and let them bake for about twenty minutes, or longer should the mushrooms be very large. Have ready a very hot dish, pile the mushrooms high in the center, pour the gravy round, and send them to table quickly on very hot plates.

Broiled Mushrooms.- (A breakfast, luncheon, or supper dish.) Ingredients: Mushrooms, pepper and salt to taste, butter, lemon juice. Mode. Cleanse the mushrooms by wiping them with a piece of flannel and a little salt; cut off a portion of the stalk and peel the tops; broil them over a clear fire, turning them once, and arrange them on a very hot dish. Put a small piece of butter on each mushroom, season with pepper and salt and squeeze over them a few drops of lemon juice. Place the dish before the fire, and when the butter is melted serve very hot and quickly. Moderate sized flaps are better suited to this mode of cooking than the buttons; the latter are better in stews.

Mushrooms a la Casse, Tout.- Ingredients: Mushrooms, toast, two ounces of butter, pepper and salt. Mode. Cut a round of bread one-half an inch thick, and toast it nicely; butter both sides and place it in a clean baking sheet or tin; cleanse the mushrooms as in preceding recipe, and place them on the toast, head downwards, lightly pepper and salt them, and place a piece of butter the size of a nut on each mushroom; cover them with a finger glass and let them cook close to the fire for ten or twelve minutes. Slip the toast into a hot dish, but do not remove the glass cover until they are on the table. All the aroma and flavor of the mushrooms are preserved by this method. The name of this excellent recipe need not deter the careful housekeeper from trying it. With moderate care the glass cover will not crack. In winter it should be rinsed in warm water before using.

Stewed Mushrooms.- Ingredients. One pint mushroom buttons, three ounces of fresh butter, white pepper and salt to taste, lemon juice, one teaspoonful of flour, cream or milk, one-fourth teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Mode. Cut off the ends of the stalks and pare neatly a pint of mushroom buttons; put them into a basin of water with a little lemon juice as they are done. When all are prepared take them from the water with the hands, to avoid the sediment, and put them into a stewpan with the fresh butter, white pepper, salt, and the juice of one-half a lemon; cover the pan closely and let the mushrooms stew gently from twenty to twenty-five minutes, then thicken the butter with the above proportion of flour, add gradually sufficient cream, or cream and milk, to make the sauce of a proper consistency, and put in the grated nutmeg. If the mushrooms are not perfectly tender stew them for five minutes longer, remove every particle of butter which may be floating on the top, and serve.

Broiled Beefsteak and Mushrooms.- Ingredients: Two or three dozen small button mushrooms, one ounce of butter, salt and cayenne to taste, one tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup. Mode. Wipe the mushrooms free from grit with a piece of flannel, and salt; put them in a stewpan with the butter, seasoning, and ketchup; stir over the fire until the mushrooms are quite done. Have the steak nicely broiled, and pour over. The above is very good with either broiled or stewed steak.

To Preserve Mushrooms.- Ingredients: To each quart of mushrooms allow three ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste, the juice of one lemon, clarified butter. Mode. Peel the mushrooms, put them into cold water, with a little lemon juice; take them out and dry them very carefully in a cloth. Put the butter into a stewpan capable of holding the mushrooms; when it is melted add the mushrooms, lemon juice, and a seasoning of pepper and salt; draw them down over a slow fire, and let them remain until their liquor is boiled away and they have become quite dry, but be careful in not allowing them to stick to the bottom of the stewpan. When done put them into pots and pour over the top clarified butter. If wanted for immediate use they will keep good a few days without being covered over. To rewarm them put the mushrooms into a stewpan, strain the butter from them, and they will be ready for use.

Mushroom Powder.- (A valuable addition to sauces and gravies when fresh mushrooms are not obtainable.) Ingredients: One-half peck of large mushrooms, two onions, twelve cloves, one-fourth ounce of pounded mace, two teaspoonfuls of white pepper. Mode. Peel the mushrooms, wipe them perfectly free from grit and dirt, remove the black fur, and reject all those that are at all worm-eaten; put them into a stewpan with the above ingredients, but without water; shake them over a clear fire till all the liquor is dried up, and be careful not to let them burn; arrange them on tins and dry them in a slow oven; pound them to a fine powder, which put into small dry bottles; cork well, seal the corks, and keep it in a dry place. In using this powder, add it to the gravy just before serving, when it will require one boil up. The flavor imparted by this means to the gravy ought to be exceedingly good. This should be made in September, or at the beginning of October, and if the mushroom powder bottle in which it is stored away is not perfectly dry it will speedily deteriorate.

Mushroom Powder.- This is for use as a condiment. The finest full-grown mushrooms which are the best flavored should be selected and prepared for drying, and dried as stated under the heading of “Dried Mushrooms,” except that it is better to dry them in an oven or drying machine so that they may be dried quickly and become brittle. Grate or otherwise reduce them to a fine powder, and preserve this in tightly-corked bottles.

To Dry Mushrooms.- Wipe them clean, take away the brown part and peel off the skin; lay them on sheets of paper to dry, in a cool oven, when they will shrivel considerably. Keep them in paper bags, which hang in a dry place. When wanted for use put them into cold gravy, bring them gradually to simmer, and it will be found that they will regain nearly their usual size.

Dried Mushrooms.- In the flush of the pasture-mushroom season gather a large number of mushrooms of all sizes and see that they are thoroughly clean; remove and discard the stems and peel the caps. Stir them around for a few minutes in boiling water to which a little lemon juice or vinegar has been added to prevent them from turning dark colored. Some people use plain cold water, or cold water with lemon juice or vinegar in it. But never use salt in preparing mushrooms for drying, or else the salted mushrooms will absorb moisture from the atmosphere and spoil. Take the mushrooms out of the water and drain them on a sieve, then string them and hang them up to dry and season in an open, airy shed, as one would strings of drying fruit. They may also be dried in a drying machine or oven as one would do with apples or peaches. They are used as a substitute for fresh mushrooms when the latter can not be obtained. In preparing dried mushrooms for use steep them in tepid water or milk until they become quite soft and plump, then drain them dry and cook them in the same way as fresh mushrooms. While they are a good substitute for the fresh article they are deficient in flavor.

Mushroom Ketchup.- To each peck of mushrooms add one-half pound of salt; to each quart of mushroom liquor one-half ounce of allspice, one-half ounce of ginger, two blades of pounded mace, one-fourth ounce of cayenne.

Choose full-grown mushroom flaps, and be careful that they are perfectly fresh-gathered when the weather is tolerably dry; for if they are picked during rain the ketchup made from them is liable to get musty, and will not keep long. Put a layer of them in a deep pan, sprinkle salt over them, then another layer of mushrooms and so on alternately. Let them remain for a few hours, and break them up with the hand; put them in a cool place for three days, occasionally stirring and mashing them well to extract from them as much juice as possible. Measure the quantity without straining, and to each quart allow the above proportion of spices, etc. Put all into a stone jar, cover it up very closely, put it in a saucepan of boiling water, set it over the fire and let it boil for three hours. Have ready a clean stewpan; turn into it the contents of the jar, and let the whole simmer very gently for half an hour; pour it into a pitcher, where it should stand in a cool place until the next day; then pour it off into another pitcher and strain it into very dry clean bottles, and do not squeeze the mushrooms. To each pint of ketchup add a few drops of brandy. Be careful not to shake the contents, but leave all the sediment behind in the pitcher; cork well, and either seal or rosin the cork, so as to exclude the air perfectly. When a very clear, bright ketchup is wanted the liquor must be strained through a very fine hair sieve or flannel bag after it has been very gently poured off; if the operation is not successful it must be repeated until you have quite a clear liquor. It should be examined occasionally, and if it is spoiling should be reboiled with a few peppercorns. Seasonable from the beginning of September to the middle of October, when this ketchup should be made.

Mushroom Ketchup.- This flavoring ingredient, if genuine and well prepared, is one of the most useful store sauces to the experienced cook, and no trouble should be spared in its preparation. Double ketchup is made by reducing the liquor to half the quantity; for example, one quart must be boiled down to one pint. This goes further than ordinary ketchup, as so little is required to flavor a good quantity of gravy. The sediment may also be bottled for immediate use, and will be found to answer for flavoring thick soups or gravies.

Mushroom Ketchup.- In making ketchup use the very best mushrooms, full grown but young and fresh, as it is highly important to secure fine flavor, and this we can not get from inferior mushrooms. Take a measure of fine fresh mushrooms and see that they are clean and free from grit; stem and peel them; cut them into very thin slices and place a layer of these on the bottom of a deep dish or tureen; sprinkle this layer with fine salt, then put in another layer and sprinkle with salt as before, and so on until the dish is full. The white succulent part of the stems may also be used in the ketchup, but never any discolored, tough or stringy part. On the top of all strew a layer of fresh walnut rind cut into small pieces. Place the dish in a cool cellar for four or five days, to allow the contents to macerate. When the whole mass has become nearly liquid pass it through a colander. Then boil down the strained liquor to half of its bulk and add its own weight of calf’s-foot jelly; season with allspice or white pepper and boil down to the consistence of jelly. Pour into stoneware jars and keep in a cool place.

Pickled Mushrooms.- Use sufficient vinegar to cover the mushrooms; to each quart of mushrooms two blades of pounded mace, one ounce of ground pepper, salt to taste. Choose young button mushrooms for pickling, and rub off the skin with a piece of flannel and salt, and cut off the stalks; if very large take out the red gills and reject the black ones, as they are too old. Put them in a stewpan, sprinkle salt over them, with pounded mace and pepper in the above proportion; shake them well over a clear fire until the liquor flows, and keep them there until it is all dried up again; then add as much vinegar as will cover them; let it simmer for one minute, and store it away in stone jars for use. When cold tie down with bladder and keep in a dry place; they will remain good for a long time, and are generally considered delicious. Make this the same time as ketchup, from the beginning of September to the middle of October. [The above recipes are furnished by Mrs. George Amberley, of New York City.]