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Morels in Cream
Take the stalks off them, cut the morels in two, and wash them in several waters that they may not be gritty. Put them into a saucepan with a piece of butter; season with salt, pepper, a bunch of herbs, and a little shredded parsley. Toss them over the stove, then moisten with some good broth, and set to simmer over a slack fire. Make a thickening with the yolks of two eggs beaten up with cream; take out the herbs, add the thickening to the sauce, and serve. Mushrooms may be dressed in the same manner.
A classic French-style fricassee of morels finished with an egg-and-cream liaison. The book gives no quantities, so work from the mushrooms: about 1 lb fresh morels, or 2 oz dried, serves four as a side or a starter on toast.
- The hinge: do not boil the liaisonOnce the yolks and cream go in, the sauce must not come back to a simmer or the eggs will curdle into threads. Pull the pan off the heat, temper a ladle of the hot broth into the yolk-cream mixture, stir it back in, and hold it below about 175F until it coats a spoon.
- "A slack fire"The lowest steady heat the stove will give - a bare tremble at the surface, not a rolling simmer. On an electric hob that is the lowest setting with the lid ajar.
- Washing out the gritMorels are honeycombed and hold sand in every pit, which is why the instruction says several waters. Cutting them in two, as directed, opens the interior so the grit can be reached; splitting them lengthwise does this best. Swish, lift out of the water rather than pouring off, and repeat until no sand settles.
- Dry them before they meet the butterWet morels steam rather than colour. Drain them well and blot on a towel, then toss over a brisk heat in the butter for a couple of minutes before the broth goes in.
- Dried morelsSoak 2 oz in warm water for 30 minutes, lift them out, and strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter to use as part of the "good broth." It carries a good deal of the flavour and is worth keeping.
- "A bunch of herbs"A bouquet garni: parsley stalks, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf tied with string, removed before the thickening goes in, as the recipe says. The shredded parsley is separate and stays.
- Cook them throughMorels are never eaten raw or barely warmed - they contain compounds that cause gastric upset unless thoroughly cooked. The recipe gives no time; ten to fifteen minutes at a simmer is right, and unlike most mushrooms they do not suffer for it.
- Know what you haveThis applies to true morels (Morchella), hollow from tip to base when split. The brain-like false morel, Gyromitra, is a different fungus and is toxic. Buying from a reputable supplier settles the question.
- Broth"Good broth" means unsalted or lightly salted stock, since it will reduce. Veal or chicken is closest to the original intent; a mushroom stock works if you want it meatless.
Morels have long occupied an odd rank in European cooking - a wild mushroom that could not be cultivated, gathered in spring, and therefore expensive enough to be treated like a luxury vegetable rather than a forager's supper. The method here, sweating in butter, moistening with broth, and binding at the last moment with yolks and cream, is the standard nineteenth-century French liaison, applied in much the same way to sweetbreads, chicken and asparagus tips; the book, which drew heavily on French practice for its sauce work, simply slots morels into the pattern and notes at the end that ordinary mushrooms will take the same treatment. That closing line is characteristic of a Victorian household dictionary: the aspirational ingredient first, the affordable substitute in the last sentence. Commercial morel cultivation remained largely unsuccessful well into the twentieth century, so morels in British kitchens of this period were generally gathered, dried, or imported dried from the Continent.