Eryngii mushrooms
When people ask how I am able to come up with new ideas for home-cooked meals, I tell them I have three rules: 1) I never shy away from unfamiliar food products and cooking techniques; 2) I brazenly experiment by combining the familiar with the unfamiliar; and 3) I’m not afraid to make mistakes even if it means throwing out a cooked dish because it is just plain bad.
Take mushrooms, for instance. I love mushrooms. But, growing up, I only knew two varieties of mushrooms — white button mushrooms and clouds’ ears (taingang daga), the second, strictly speaking not even a real mushroom but a fungus. And I was familiar only with these two because so many decades ago, these were the only things on the market. It’s crazy, really, considering how many varieties of edible mushrooms there are and how many of them are native to Asia. Exotic ingredients for exotic Asian cooking. But this is the Philippines, colonized by Spain then by America, and until recently Filipinos were more familiar with burgers, steaks and Campbell’s soup than those weird looking mushrooms.
As far as I know, the interest in other varieties of mushrooms did not really take off until Mushroom Burger in Tagaytay became popular. Although people went there for the burgers, the conspicuous display of fresh and dried mushrooms slowly introduced us to shiitake, abalone and oyster mushrooms. Discovering them forever changed my life. It was the beginning of my love affair with mushrooms. Years later, when imported fresh and canned mushrooms started entering the local market, I would buy and try every new variety I’d find. I especially adore straw mushrooms and enoki mushrooms.
Today, the varieties of mushrooms on supermarket shelves are intoxicating. And I’m trying them one or two at a time. A few days ago, I bought a tray of organic Eryngii (king oyster) mushrooms.
Not exactly cheap, 200 grams for P170, but those 200 grams went a long, long way.
Unlike other mushroom varieties, the thick stems of the Eryngii mushrooms are neither tough nor woody. I would have braised or stir fried them but I was worried there wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a household of six.
So I decided to dice them and add them to a chicken and vegetable soup.
I served the savory soup with a beef and string beans stir fry.
And my family had lunch al fresco to make the most of the cool weather.
Some tips and trivia:
1) To store eryngii mushrooms, transfer to a paper bag and keep in the fridge.
2) For an even longer shelf life, eryngii mushrooms are available dried or canned (check availability in the supermarket).
I can only wish that local agriculturists would take more interest in cultivating mushrooms.
For mushroom lovers, you might want to check out the following recipes in the archive.
- Mussels and straw mushrooms in oyster sauce
- Roast pork with mushroom sauce
- Mushrooms adobo with coconut cream
- Pork and mushrooms noodle soup
- Pechay and mushrooms stir fry
- Stir-fried chicken, mushrooms and peas
- Chicken, peas and mushrooms in sour cream
- Baby back ribs and mushrooms a la teriyaki
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hi ms. connie,
where do you usually buy your mushrooms? i get mine from farmer’s, but the traffic’s discouraging so i rarely go there.
Shopwise, Unimart, Landmark… wherever I find them.
Hi Connie, just to clarify mushrooms are also fungi. They are a type of fungi that have fruiting bodies unlike the “amag” and yeasts. Tenga ng daga belongs to a different group than the button mushrooms though. I love to eat mushrooms. We used to cultivate straw mushrooms before. They’re one of the reasons why studied plant pathology.
They are fungi? Wow, buti na lang there’s a scientist in the neighborhood. Thanks, Gay.
Hehe
They’re a different group from plants and animals. Other fungi are yeasts, amag, yung mga ginagamit sa cheese like Camembert, Blue, Roquefort (basta greenish-bluish cheese na fermented, fermented soy sauce…
Hi Connie! Yummy yung dish, obvious ba eh mukhang enjoy na enjoy si hubby mo sa lunch al fresco!!! That’s the best compliment to the cook!! Hail to the Cook! Magnifico!
for the first time i’ve tasted king oyster mushroom, i already fell in love!i said to my hubby, this is going to be a mainstay in my diet.hehehe…