Mushroom Culture Part 6

_Agarics delicately Stewed._--Remove the stalks and scales from young half-grown agarics, and throw each one as you do so into a basin of fresh water slightly acidulated with the juice of a lemon, or a little good vinegar. When all are prepared, remove them from the water, and put them into a stew-pan with a very small piece of fresh b.u.t.ter.

Sprinkle with white pepper and salt, and add a little lemon-juice; cover up closely, and stew for half an hour. Then add a spoonful of flour, with sufficient cream, or cream and milk, until the whole has the thickness of cream. Season to taste, and stew again gently until the agarics are perfectly tender. Remove all the b.u.t.ter from the surface, and serve in a hot dish, garnished with slices of lemon.

A little mace, nutmeg, or ketchup may be added; but there are those who think that spice spoils the mushroom flavour.

_Cottager's Procerus Pie._--Cut fresh agarics in small pieces, and cover the bottom of a pie-dish. Pepper, salt, and place them on small shreds of fresh bacon, then put in a layer of mashed potatoes, and so fill the dish, layer by layer, with a cover of mashed potatoes for the crust.

Bake well for half an hour, and brown before a quick fire.

_A la Provencale._--"Steep for two hours in some salt, pepper, and a little garlic; then toss in a small stew-pan over a brisk fire, with parsley chopped, and a little lemon-juice."--_Dr. Badham._

_Agaric Ketchup._--Place agarics of as large a size as you can procure, but which are not worm-eaten, layer by layer, in a deep pan, sprinkling each layer as it is put in with a little salt. The next day stir them well up several times, so as to mash and extract their juice. On the third day strain off the liquor, measure, and boil for ten minutes, and then to every pint of the liquor add half an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of bruised ginger-root, a blade of mace, a clove or two, and a tea-spoonful of mustard-seed. Boil again for half an hour; put in two or three bay leaves, and set aside till quite cold. Pa.s.s through a strainer, and bottle; cork well, and dip the ends in resin. A very little Chili vinegar is an improvement, and some add a gla.s.s of port wine, or a gla.s.s of strong ale to every bottle.

Care should be taken that the spice is not added so abundantly as to overpower the true flavour of the agaric. A careful cook will keep back a little of the simple boiled liquor to guard against this danger: a good one will always avoid it. "Doctors weigh their things," said a capital cook, "but I go by taste." But then, like poets, good cooks of this order must be born so; they are not to be made.

_Coprinus comatus_ (the Maned Agaric).

_Pileus_ cylindrical, obtuse, campanulate, fleshy in the centre, but very thin towards the margin. The external surface soon torn up into fleecy scales, with the exception of a cap at the top. _Gills_ free, linear, and crowded. Quite white when young, becoming rose-coloured, sepia, and then black, from the margin upwards. They then expand quickly, curl up in shreds, and deliquesce into a black inky fluid which stains the ground. _Stem_ of a pure white, four to five inches high, contracting at the top, and bulbous at the base; hollow, fibrillose, stuffed with a light cottony web. The bulb is solid and rooting, the ring is movable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 32. _Coprinus comatus_ (Maned Mushroom). Pastures, parks, and roadsides, summer and autumn; colour, snow-white; height, 5 to 12 inches.]

This very elegant agaric has also been called _Ag. cylindricus_, Schff; _Ag. typhoides_, Bull; and _Ag. fimetarius_, Bolt. It is common throughout the summer and autumn months, on road-sides, pastures, and waste places. It is extremely variable in size. Its general appearance is so distinct and striking, that it cannot possibly be mistaken for any other agaric. It grows so abundantly on waste ground in the dwellings and farm-yards that it may be, says Dr. Bull, called the "agaric of civilization;" and for both these reasons it is most valuable as an edible agaric. If its merits were known, it would be eaten as freely as the common field mushroom.

"The maned mushrooms," Miss Plues has well said, "grow in dense cl.u.s.ters, each young plant like an attenuated egg, white and smooth.

Presently some exceed the others in rapidity of growth, and their heads get above the ground, the stem elongates rapidly, the ring falls loosely round the stem, the margin of the pileus enlarges, and the oval head a.s.sumes a bell-shape; then a faint tint of brown spreads universally or in blotches over the upper part of the pileus, and the whiteness of its gills changes to a dull pink. A few more hours and the even head of the pileus has split in a dozen places, the sections curl back, melt out of all form into an inky fluid, and on the morrow's dawn a black stain on the ground will be all that remains. And so on with the others in succession."

_Opinions on the Merits of Coprinus comatus as an Edible Fungus._--"Esculent when young."--_Berkeley._

"Young specimens should be selected."--_Badham._

"No despicable dish, though perhaps not quite equal to the common mushroom."--_M. C. Cooke._

"If I had my choice, I think there is no species I should prefer before this one: it is singularly rich, tender, and delicious."--_Worthington G. Smith._

Dr. M'Cullough, Dr. Chapman, Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., and some other members of the Woolhope Club, hold Mr. W. G. Smith's opinion as the result of considerable experience. It must be noted, however, that when too young this agaric is rather deficient in flavour, and its fibres tenacious. Its flavour is most rich, and its texture most delicate when the gills show the pink colour with sepia margins.

_Modes of Cooking the Coprinus comatus._--The best and simplest method is to broil it and serve on toast in the ordinary way. It may be added also with great advantage to steaks and made-dishes, to give flavour and gravy.

_Comatus Soup._--Take two quarts of white stock, and put in a large plateful of the maned agaric roughly broken out; stew until tender; pulp through a fine sieve; add pepper and salt to taste; boil and serve up hot. Two or three table-spoonfuls of cream will be a great improvement.

The agarics for this soup should be young, in order to keep its colour light and good. The maned agaric is recommended on all sides for making ketchup, but here, also, it should be quickly used, and the ketchup quickly made.

_Agaricus gambosus_ (the True St. George's Mushroom).

_Pileus_ thick and fleshy, convex at first, often lobed, becoming undulated and irregular, expanding unequally; the margin more or less involute, and at first flocculose; from three to four inches across; of a light yellow colour in the centre, fading to almost opaque white at the edges; it is soft to the touch; more or less tuberculated, and often presenting cracks. _Gills_ yellowish-white, watery, narrow, marginate, annexed to the stem with a little tooth: they are very numerous and irregular, with many smaller ones interposed, "lying over each other like the plaits of a frill" (from 5 to 11, Vittadini). _Stem_ firm, solid and white, swelling at the base in young specimens; but in older ones, though usually bulging, they are frequently of even size, and when in long gra.s.s they occasionally even taper downwards. This agaric is usually nearly white, smooth, soft, and firm, like kid leather to the touch, and, as Berkeley has happily said, "in appearance it very closely resembles a cracknel biscuit."

They grow in rings; have a strong smell, and appear about St. George's Day (April 23), after the rains which usually fall about the third week in April. They continue to appear for three or four weeks, according to the peculiarities of the season. They are usually to be found on hilly pastures in woodland districts.

The St. George's mushroom cannot well be mistaken for any other. The fact of its appearance at this early season, and growing so freely in rings, when so very few other funguses are to be found, is almost enough to distinguish it. It has, however, very distinctive characters in itself in the thickness of its pileus; the narrowness of its gills, which are very closely crowded together; and the solid bulging stem.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 33. _Agaricus gambosus_ (St. George's Mushroom).

Pastures, _in the spring_; colour, cream; diameter, 4 to 6 inches.]

The St. George's mushroom is not an uncommon agaric in this country, and where it does appear it is usually plentiful--a single ring affording generally a good basket full. It should be gathered when young, or it will be found grub-eaten, for no fungus is more speedily and more voraciously attacked by insects than this one.

_Opinions on the Merits of Agaricus gambosus as an Edible Fungus._--"This rare and most delicious agaric, the _mouceron_ of Bulliard, and the _Agaricus prunulus_ of other authors, abounds on the hills above the valley of Staffora, near Bobbio, where it is called _Spinaroli_, and is in great request; the country people eat it fresh in a variety of ways, or they dry and sell it at from twelve to sixteen francs a pound."--_Letter from Professor Balbi to Persoon._

"The most savoury fungus with which I am acquainted ... and which is justly considered over almost the whole continent of Europe as the _ne plus ultra_ of culinary friandise.

"The _prunulus_ (_gambosus_) is much prized in the Roman market, where it easily fetches, when fresh, thirty baiocchi--_i.e._, fifteen pence per pound--a large sum for any luxury in Rome. It is sent in little baskets as presents to patrons, fees to medical men, and bribes to Roman lawyers."--_Dr. Badham._

The _Agaricus gambosus_ "is one that a person cannot well make any mistake about. It sometimes attains a large size, is excellent in flavour, and particularly wholesome."--_Rev. M. J. Berkeley._

_Mode of Cooking Agaricus gambosus._--"The best mode of cooking _Agaricus gambosus_ is either to mince or frica.s.see it with any sort of meat, or in a _vol-au-vent_, the flavour of which it greatly improves; or simply prepared with salt, pepper, and a small piece of bacon, lard, or b.u.t.ter, to prevent burning, it const.i.tutes of itself an excellent dish."--_Dr. Badham._ "Served with white sauce, it is a capital appendage to roast veal."--_Edwin Lees._ It may be broiled, stewed, or baked.

_Breakfast Agaric._--Place some fresh-made toast, nicely divided, on a dish, and put the agarics upon it; pepper, salt, and put a small piece of b.u.t.ter on each; then pour on each one a tea-spoonful of milk or cream, and add a single clove to the whole dish. Place a bell-gla.s.s, or inverted basin, over the whole; bake twenty minutes, and serve up without removing the gla.s.s until it comes to the table, so as to preserve the heat and the aroma, which, on lifting the cover, will be diffused through the room. It dries very readily when divided into pieces, and retains most of its excellence. A few pieces added to soups, gravies, or made-dishes, give a delicious flavour.

_Agaricus rubescens_ (Brown Warty Agaric).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 34. _Agaricus rubescens_ (Red-fleshed Mushroom).

Woods, summer and autumn; colour, sienna-brown; diameter, 4 to 10 inches.]

_Pileus_ convex, then expanded, cuticle brown, scattered over with warts varying in size. Margin striate. _Gills_ white, reaching the stem, and forming very fine decurrent lines upon it. _Ring_ entire, wide and marked with striae. _Stem_ often scaly, stuffed, becoming hollow; when old, bulbous. Volva obliterated. The whole plant has a tendency to turn a sienna-red, or rust colour. This is very distinctly shown some little time after it has been bruised.

It is very common all through the summer and autumn months; indeed, one of the most abundant mushrooms; "and it is one of those species that a person with the slightest powers of discrimination may distinguish accurately from others."--_Badham._

_Opinions on the Merits of Agaricus rubescens as an Edible Fungus._--"A very delicate fungus, which grows in sufficient abundance to render it of importance in a culinary point of view."--_Badham._

"From long experience I can vouch for its being not only wholesome, but, as Dr. Badham says, 'a very delicate fungus.'"--_F. Currey_, Editor of Dr. Badham's "Esculent Funguses."

_Modes of Cooking the Agaricus rubescens._--It may be toasted, boiled, or stewed in the ordinary way.

_Fried Rubescens._--Place the full-grown agarics in water for ten minutes, then drain, and having removed the warty skin, fry with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. The ketchup made from _Agaricus rubescens_ is rich and good. "As it grows freely, and attains a considerable size, it is very suitable for that purpose, quant.i.ty being a great desideratum in ketchup-making."--_Plues._

_Agaricus nebularis_ (Clouded Mushroom).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 35. Agaricus nebularis (Clouded Mushroom). Woody places, in autumn; colour, cream, with slate-coloured top; diameter, 4 to 10 inches.]

"_Pileus_ from two and a half to five inches across; at first depresso-convex; when expanded, nearly flat or broadly sub.u.mbonate; never depressed; margin at first involute and pruinose; occasionally somewhat waved and lobed, but generally regular in form; smooth, viscid when moist, so that dead leaves adhere to it; grey, brown at the centre, paler towards the circ.u.mference. _Flesh_ thick, white, unchanging.

_Gills_ cream-colour, narrow, decurrent, close, their margins waved, unequal, generally simple. _Stem_ from two to four inches long, from a quarter of an inch to an inch thick; incurved at the base; not rooting, but attaching by means of a floccose down round its lower portion and for one-third of its length, a large quant.i.ty of dead leaves, by which the plant is held erect; subequal, more or less marked with longitudinal pits, firm externally, within of a softer substance. The _odour_ strong, like that of curd cheese."--_Badham._

"Common in certain places, but very rare near London. This species comes up late in the autumn on dead leaves in moist places, princ.i.p.ally on the borders of woods. The gastronomic excellences of this species are well known. When gathered, it has a wholesome and powerful odour; and when cooked, the firm and fragrant flesh has a particularly agreeable and palatable taste."--_W. G. Smith._

"The _Agaricus nebularis_ requires but little cooking; a few minutes'

broiling (_a la_ Maintenon is best), with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt, is sufficient. It may also be delicately fried with bread crumbs, or stewed in white sauce. The flesh of this mushroom is perhaps lighter of digestion than that of any other."--_Badham._