The spirit of cookery

In France and Germany the agaricus passes under the name of champignon, hut in England it is called mushroom. This is a special application of the French name mousseron, of which more below. The agaricus contains above 91 per cent, of water, 2^- per cent, of nitrogenized substance, 1 per mille fat, nearly 1 per cent, of mannite and grape-sugar ; soluble matter free from nitrogen above 3'7 percent., woody fibre or cellulose 0-67 per cent., and 0’76 per cent, of inorganic constituents. [TruHles are much less watery, and contain the nutritive constituents in more than double the quantities in which they are present in agarics.] The ash amounts to more than 5 per cent, of the dry substance ; one-half of it is potash, one-quarter sulphuric acid, and at least 15 per cent, is phosphoric acid. Starch has never been found in fungi. Mushrooms grown in the open air, on meadows, or in shaded glens, have the best flavour. We recognise two particular varieties of the Agaricus campestris, one white, the other brown-speckled on the convex side. They are difficult to rear by art, or, at least, their growth is uncertain. They are more easily reared in caves, such as the quarries below Paris ; but these subterranean products have much less flavour. The great use which is made of mushrooms in cookery is evident from the special recipes with which literature abounds. There are numerous modes of preparing mushrooms on record, besides simple frying in butter, which we consider the best of all ; they may be slowly fried — i.e., gratinated while filled with farce ; dressed with oil, or gratinated sous la tourtiere, so as to resemble those done by braising j or fried and laid on fried bread, croûtes aux champignons. The name of mousserons is given to several small edible varieties of fungi of the agaricus family which grow among the moss. From this circumstance the French name and the English word ‘mushroom,’ now exclusively given to Agaricus campestris, are alike derived. The mousserons are partly eaten fresh, partly collected and dried, and then look like pieces of old leather. Italian merchants in London sell these mixtures, called funghi, at about half a crown a pound. They are powdered for being placed in ragouts. The Mousseron d’ Armas is eaten in Provence; there are further, the Mousseron blanc, Agaricus alhellus, D.C. ; the Mousseron RAGOUTS OF MUSHROOMS, TRUFFLES, ETC. 299 faux, /I. tortilis, D.C. ; the gray Mousseron, A. imusseron. Bull. ; and the Mousseron petite oreille, A. virgineus, Pers. These mousserons were used mixed for the production of ragouts. It is related that Barras, the Director who produced Napoleon and the 13th Vendemiaire, employed several individuals to collect these delicate fungi for him. He had them prepared by frying in butter or lard with herbs and pepper ; the fry was then moistened with veal-broth or bouillon, and reduced, and the sauce thickened with butter and flour.