A guide to modern cookery

Suppress. their stalks flush with their heads; turn or groove the latter with the point of a small knife, and throw them, one by one, into a boiling liquor prepared as follows :— For two lbs. of mushrooms, put one-sixth pint of water, one-third oz. of salt, two oz. of butter, and the juice of one and one-half lemons, in a saucepan. Boil; add the mushrooms, and cook for five minutes. Transfer to a bowl immediately, and cover with a piece of buttered paper. 2079—PUREE DE CHAMPIGNONS Clean, wash, and dry two lbs. of mushrooms. Quickly peel them, and rub them through a sieve. Put this purée of raw mushrooms into a sautépan with two-thirds pint of reduced Béchamel sauce, and one-sixth pint of cream. Season with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg; reduce over an open fire for a few minutes, and finish, away from the fire, with three oz. of best butter. 2080—MORELS (Morilles) The Spring mushroom or Morel is the one most preferred by connoisseurs. There are two kinds of morels—the pale and the brown kind—both excellent, though some prefer the former to the latter, and vice versa. In spite of what connoisseurs may say regarding the error of washing morels, I advocate the operation, and urge the reader to effect it carefully, and without omitting to open out the alveolate parts, so as to wash away any sand particles that may be lodged therein. The Cooking of Morels.—If they be small, leave them whole; if large, halve or quarter them. After having properly drained them, put them in a saucepan with two oz. of butter, the juice of a lemon, and a pinch of salt and another of pepper per lb. of morels. Boil, and then stew for ten or twelve minutes. Never forget that the vegetable juices produced by the morels should be reduced and added to their accompanying sauce, 2081—MORILLES A LA CREME Proceed as for Cépes and Mushrooms with Cream. 2082—MORILLES FARCIES Select some large morels, and wash them well. Suppress their stems; chop them up, and prepare them like a Duxelles (No. 223). Add to this Duxelles half of its bulk of very smooth sausagemeat. Open the morels on one side; fill them with the prepared forcemeat, and set them on a buttered dish, opened side nethermost. Sprinkle with fine raspings, and use plenty of melted butter; cook for twenty minutes in a moderate oven, and serve the dish as it stands. 2083—MORILLES A LA POULETTE Cook them as described under No. 2080, and add them to a Poulette sauce (No. 101), together with their cooking-liquor reduced. Dish in a timbale, and sprinkle with a pinch of chopped parsley. 2084—MORILLES SAUTEES After having thoroughly washed the morels, dry them well in a towel, and halve or quarter them according to their size. Season them with salt and pepper, and sauté them with butter in an omelet-pan, over a sufficiently fierce fire, to avoid the exudation of their vegetable moisture. Dish them in a timbale; squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over them, and sprinkle them with chopped parsley. 2085—TOURTE DE MORILLES Cook the morels as explained under No. 2080, and drain them well. Reduce their cooking-liquor by a quarter, and add to it two tablespoonfuls of very thick cream and one oz. of butter per Ib. of morels. Heat this sauce without boiling it, toss the morels in it, and set them in a tourte crust, or merely in the centre of a crown of puff-paste, lying on a dish. Morels prepared in this way may also be served in a Vol-auvent crust (No. 2390). 2086—MOUSSERONS, ORONGES, GIROLES These varieties of esculent fungi are not much liked in England.