Book Review

Mushroom Magic
by Steven Wheeler

From The Mushroom Growers' Newsletter - June 2000

Cover: Mushroom Magic

This cookbook, subtitled "100 Fabulous Feasts with Wild and Cultivated Mushrooms", is a great introduction to gourmet cooking with mushrooms. The book is an updated version of one published in London in 1996 and is extracted from a larger compendium entitled The Ultimate Mushroom Book. The 128 page paperback version includes hundreds of color photographs that illustrate how to cook everything from "Kedgeree of Oyster and Chanterelle Mushrooms" (a breakfast dish served over rice) to "Mushroom Borek" (a Turkish pastry filled with eight ounces of assorted wild and cultivated mushrooms). The recipes are organized into sections on mushroom breakfasts; soups, starters and salads; poultry and game dishes; beef pork and lamb; fish and shellfish; and vegetarian dishes.

In addition to the recipes, the book includes a great introduction that provides a bit of information (with pictures) of 30 species, including truffles. It also describes various ways of preserving and using preserved mushrooms. For those of you interested in developing value-added products, the book addresses, drying mushrooms, mushroom powder, mushroom puree, pickled mushrooms, chanterelle vodka, spiced mushrooms in alcohol, and mushroom extract.

 

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