Part 10 (1/2)
=Mushroom Soup.=--Take a quant.i.ty of fresh young mushrooms, and peel and stem them. Stew them with a little b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ton 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 ”b.u.t.ton” 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 sc.r.a.ping, for they can not be skinned like the caps.
=Potted Mushrooms.=--Select nice b.u.t.ton or unopen mushrooms, and to a quart of these add three ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter, 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, b.u.t.ter, pepper to taste.
Mode. For this mode of cooking the mushroom flaps are better than the b.u.t.tons, 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 b.u.t.ter 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, b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter is melted serve very hot and quickly. Moderate sized flaps are better suited to this mode of cooking than the b.u.t.tons; the latter are better in stews.
=Mushrooms a la Ca.s.se, Tout.=--Ingredients: Mushrooms, toast, two ounces of b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt. Mode. Cut a round of bread one-half an inch thick, and toast it nicely; b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter the size of a nut on each mushroom; cover them with a finger gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s cover will not crack. In winter it should be rinsed in warm water before using.
=Stewed Mushrooms.=--Ingredients. One pint mushroom b.u.t.tons, three ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.tons; 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter which may be floating on the top, and serve.
=Broiled Beefsteak and Mushrooms.=--Ingredients: Two or three dozen small b.u.t.ton mushrooms, one ounce of b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter, 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.