A Cook's Book of Mushrooms: With 100 Recipes for Common and Uncommon Varieties

By Jack Czarnecki

Book Overview

Portobello, Cremini, Shiitake, and Enoki mushrooms--and even morels and chanterelles--are commonly showing up in supermarkets and specialty stores these days. Advances in mushroom cultivation have made varieties that were once available only to experienced mushroom hunters now easy for all to find, and a number of mail-order sources provide more exotic kinds. But what should a cook do with all these mushroom varieties? How do you bring out their most distinctive characteristics in the kitchen? In "A Cook's Book of Mushrooms, " Jack Czarnecki, chief proprietor of Joe's Restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania, provides the answers. Czarnecki gives an account of his life-long fascination with mushrooms--hunting them, cooking them, and eating them. He describes the characteristics of the principle edible mushrooms and provides 100 tasty recipes for both the widely available "wild" mushrooms as well as the more exotic varieties. Seven chapters cover the major mushroom families--Buttons and Saucers: The Genus "Agaricus;" Aristocrats of the Forest: Morels and Truffles; The King and Lesser Nobility: Cepes and Their Cousins; Flowers or Fungus?: Chanterelles; Mushrooms from Wood; From the East; and The Best of the Rest. The recipes include appetizers, main courses, salads, and even breakfast dishes that use mushrooms in starring and supporting roles, such as Morels with Ruffled Pasta, Wild Mushroom and Onion Soup, Barbecued Oysters and Shiitake Mushrooms, and Salmon with Chanterelles and Red Pepper Puree. The author--whose knowledge of wine rivals his knowledge of mushrooms--includes wine or beer suggestions for most dishes.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885183070
• ISBN13: 9781885183071
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Artisan Publishers
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 2.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

still in the dark

Sure, great recipes. Interesting anecdotes. But there is a paucity of photos to help identify the mushrooms whose names abound. A page or two of plates giving mushroom photos with their names would go a long way. I am still faced with bushels and bushels of mushrooms I could buy, but no way to know even what category each falls into. Where I shop, mushrooms do not come with name tags.

Applause from Jim Schlott

Dear Joe,Haven't talked to you in about ten years, but still working "in the mushroom". Recently consulting for a new plant in Oklahoma...more news on this soon. Say hello to your friend, Paul Tetlak, who brought you through my mushroom farm in Blandon, Pa. You can reach me through my friend's web address for now since I would like your net address.Regards, Jim

One of the best books on mushroom cooking.

Jack's recipes are delicious, simple and classy. He marries ingredients in a creative fashion, and the results are outstanding dishes that are full of intense and delicate flavors. His book also offers a comprehensive guide for the mushroom lover.