My limited experience of cooking mushrooms is limited to frying them in a pan with oil and onions; knowledge bestowed upon me courtesy of my father. These mushrooms were always the uniform and mild tasting ones you find at the grocery store. So I thought it was important to learn how to cook the more interesting varieties properly in a way that perfectly enhances their flavor. The workshop at the Slow Food Conference was lead by Chef Jeffrey Wall from Hearth & Dram and his recipes were mouthwatering. Wall’s recipes included ‘Roasted chanterelles, leeks, and corn with butter and preserved lemon’, ‘Hen of the woods with celeriac and aged vinegar’, and ‘Glazed shiitake with bacon and potatoes’. He started off by stressing the importance of buying good mushrooms; they should be dry, yet fresh and alive with no off odors. After procuring your soon to be delicious mushrooms, it’s important to mince them to shorten the cooking time. (If you double the mass, you quadruple the cooking time.) By the time you start cooking, your pan should already be hot, then you can add the oil and put the mushrooms in. Its important to not crowd the pan and not to touch the mushrooms as they roast for 3-4 minutes. If the mushrooms appear to absorb all of the oil, then add more. The goal is to achieve coloration in the mushrooms and for them to smell like meat. After this time you may add some salt (timing is important; add salt every time you add a new ingredient). Next add a cube of butter to the mushrooms; don’t worry about adding too much, as you can drain it out at the end using a paper towel. Swirl the pan around to evenly coat all the mushrooms in the butter, then add more butter and repeat. This adds more aromatics, because the butter acts as a medium. It is important to be aware of the smell change that occurs in the mushrooms as they transition from raw to cooked to toasted, so you can better identify the process as it happens. Finally, add more salt, drain the butter, then add a touch of acid. This could include fresh parsley, lemon juice, or celery root for that bitter compound.
Overall, the workshop was really interesting and the Chef was incredibly knowledgeable. The only downside was how rushed he was; next time they should make it a longer workshop than 1.5 hours. I also left wishing I had gotten to taste more than a bite of each dish, considering I had paid a good chunk of money for the workshop.