Chaoshi Choice: The Morel of the Story

This post was going to be about mushrooms generally, but while gathering ingredients I came across something particularly exciting: morels.

At nearly RMB 300 per kilogram, it’s not exactly cheap, but that’s still almost half the price you’d pay in Europe or the US (if you can find morels at all.) The reason it’s so expensive is that the morel has resisted all attempts to cultivate it, and can only be found in the wild, where it mostly grows on trees. The morel doesn’t have the same glamorous reputation as its subterranean cousin the truffle, but in my opinion, it’s a richer and more complex experience: woody, nutty, and meaty, delicious with either a full white like a Chardonnay or a luscious red such as Primitivo.

Its subtle flavor is best enjoyed cooked simply, but the challenge is cleaning them. All those little holes in the cap can hide dirt or worms. (I still cringe with horror at the memory of the time I cooked risotto for a group of writers in Latvia with wild mushrooms from the market but didn’t clean them properly, leaving everyone to sit munching on grit with brave smiles.)

Opinion is bitterly divided on the internet (as it is about so many things) between soaking or dry brushing morels in order to clean them. I went for soaking, in part because of my Latvian experience but also because the morels felt quite dry. The results worked out well, so here is my recipe for preparing and cooking morels:

Cooking morel mushrooms

1. Rinse the morels in clean water.
2. Pour a cup of boiling water into a bowl, and add salt (enough to kill any lurking creepy crawlies, but not so much as to ruin the flavor; a couple of tablespoons should do it.) Then add cold water until the bowl reaches room temperature. You don’t want to boil your mushrooms!
3. Soak the morels in the salted water for 15-20 minutes, then drain. Remove any stray bits.
4. Cut the morels in half lengthwise. Remove any remaining dirt inside with a damp piece of kitchen roll.
5. Get a heavy frying pan nice and hot, then dry fry the morels for a couple of minutes until they brown. Add a pat of butter and saute. At the last minute, chuck in a little splash of wine to deglaze the pan. Serve and savor.

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This article originally featured on our sister site beijingkids.

Photos: wideopenspaces.com, wikivisually.com, Andrew Killeen