Philippe Emanuelli - A Cooks Initiation into the Gorgeous World of Mushrooms

First published in the United States of America in 2013 by Chronicle Books LLC.

First published in France in 2011 by Marabout.

Text copyright 2011 by Philippe Emanuelli.

Photographs copyright 2011 by Frdric Raevens.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-2945-7

The Library of Congress has previously cataloged this title under ISBN 978-1-4521-1445-3

Designed by MOTO
Typesetting by DC Typography, Inc.

Chronicle Books LLC

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San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

Thanks to my mom and my Aunt Lisette for having given me my love of cooking, and thanks to Linette for nourishing it every day. Thanks to Fred for the great job and for the team at MOTO that I didnt manage. Thank you to Pierre for the initiation, and a special dedication to all of my friends who participated in the experiment of Caf des Spores (indoor and outdoor). I will never finish thanking Diego, Cecile, Eugenie, Cedric, Joel, Sara, Maria, Emilia, Faika, Sabrina, Natasha, Naima, Jeremi, David, and Thierry. And finally thank you to Pascal, our plumber, and Paolo (refrigeration), without whom it all would have been a disaster.

A special thank you to Myrto, who masterfully plays all roles at once, and to Fotis for opening so many channels for me.

Some of the recipes in this book include raw eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or shellfish. Consumed raw, these foods pose a risk for bacteria that are killed by proper cooking, and should not be consumed by pregnant women, infants, small children, the elderly, or people with autoimmune conditions. Please purchase from trusted sources and read and follow recipe instructions carefully. The authors and Chronicle Books disclaim any and all liability for injuries suffered while consuming any of the raw foods described in this book.

CAF DES SPORES

BRUXELLES, PAS PARIS, PAS NEW YORK,
PAS LONDRES, PAS TOKYO, PAS MADRID,
NI LE ZOUTE, NI MILAN, NI SAINT-TROPEZ

My goal in writing this book was to introduce you to the pleasures of cooking with mushrooms, which is something Ive been experimenting with over the last few years. The book is definitely not an exhaustive survey of all the edible mushrooms, but rather a selection of the ones I find most often on display in the markets of Europe, both in the city and the countryside. In no way is this book meant to encourage you to do your own mushroom hunting.

Unless you are highly experienced, gathering and eating wild mushrooms is VERY dangerousso dangerous that even pharmacists arent trained in mushroom identification anymore (as was traditional for so many years in Europe).

The environments in which mushrooms grow are becoming more and more fragile, and thus more and more precious. In the United States, the harvesting of many types of mushrooms is monitored and managed with land and species conservation in mind. And yet, the interest in mushroom foraging is, well, mushrooming. This sometimes puts the casual Sunday mushroom hunter at odds with local environmentalists and federal regulators, and makes something as seemingly natural as hunting for mushrooms an affront to true nature lovers.

And foraging on your own can impinge on the livelihood of others. Some regions of the world have active mushroom foraging cultures that make important contributions to the local economy, both socially and environmentally.

Nowadays, plenty of marketsespecially farmers marketsoffer a wonderful variety of high-quality, well-handled, safe-to-eat wild mushrooms, so why not just leave it to the experts to do the foraging?

I also encourage you to eat more cultivated mushrooms. Theyre less expensive, less apt to be polluted, often organic, widely available, ready to cook, and wholesome and nutritiousplenty of good reasons why theyre finding their way to so many urban kitchens and pantries.

Now, in spite of everything Ive just said, if you cant resist the lure of the mushroom hunt, here is some useful advice:

Even if it means a long hike, dont park your car near secret (or even well-known) foraging sites, especially if your car betrays you as being not localflat tires and scratched paint jobs are pretty much guaranteed. Be discreet and respectful. For example, only take what you will eat, and dont leave any signs of your visit.

Must-have items: cell phone, watch, a good mushroom field guide, good walking shoes.

Never put your mushrooms in a plastic bag or pouch; certain species become toxic if sealed in plastic.

Never taste any mushroom that youre not absolutely certain about, and even then, only taste a bit.

As a way to curb any reckless behavior, take a look at the list of mushroom poisoning symptoms. Thatll do the trick! And be sure to program the poison-control-center phone number into your cell phone.

ABOUT MUSHROOMS

DEFINITION OF A MUSHROOM: All mushrooms share the common trait of containing no chlorophyll (green pigmentation), which is one thing that distinguishes them from more complex vegetables. This means they are incapable of synthesizing the essential products of photosynthesis (sugars, starches), and therefore they need to get these elements from other organisms (vegetal and animal) on which they are dependent.

The visible fleshy portion, which is what we eat, is simply the fruit of the mushroom, which actually lives underground as a complex network of microscopic filaments, called the mycelium. These filaments grow in different ways: they either make use of the surrounding dead organic matter (leaf humus, compost) or live organic matter (trees and plants), or they develop a symbiotic relationship with a living organism, usually a tree or plant. In this case, the expanding network surrounds the tiny roots and creates whats called a mycorrhiza, like a little biological factory thats beneficial to both organisms. The mushroom captures water and minerals for its host and creates antibiotics, and, in exchange, the host provides the organic matter the mushroom needs to consume. Porcini, chanterelles, and truffles all use this same process.

SEASONS: Contrary to what most people think, mushrooms dont only grow in the fall. They start appearing as soon as the snow melts and they grow all the way through the next winter, with a slow season from April to November. And the seasons are flexible, given that mushrooms grow in so many climates around the world. And dont forget, cultivated and dried mushrooms are available year-round.

COMPOSITION: Mushrooms contain proteins (similar to animal protein), vitamins, and various mineralsall in relatively small amounts, however, because mushrooms are about 90 percent water. Dried mushrooms, therefore, have much higher levels of these nutrients.

In spite of their nutritional valueand their popularity with food loversmushrooms can have certain health risks. As with shellfish, mushrooms have the tendency to absorb pollutants (pesticides, heavy metals, radioactivity). This is especially true for certain at risk varieties and wild varieties growing in unprotected areas (grasslands, fallow farm fields, country lanes, and areas bordering conventionally farmed, nonorganic fields). This isnt so different from the vast majority of fruits and vegetables these days, which also contain pollutants.