Cream of Mushroom Soup.—This will be made precisely the same as in the preceding recipe, save that one quart of milk will be used instead of a pint with the same amount of thickening, and the mushrooms will not be pressed through a sieve.
COPRINUS COMATUS and COPRINUS ATRAMENTARIUS.
As these varieties usually grow together and are sort of companion mushrooms, recipes given for one will answer for the cooking of the other. Being soft and juicy, they must be handled with care, and are much better cooked with dry heat. Remove the stems, and wash them carefully; throw them into a colander until dry; arrange them in a baking pan; dot here and there with bits of butter, allowing a tablespoonful to each half pound of mushrooms; dust with salt and pepper, run them into a very hot oven, and bake for thirty minutes; dish in a heated vegetable dish, pouring over the sauce from the pan.
The C. micaceus may also be cooked after the same fashion—after dishing the mushrooms boil down the liquor.
Stewed.—Wash and dry them; put them into a large, flat pan, allowing a tablespoonful of butter to each half pound of mushrooms; sprinkle at once with salt and pepper; cover the pan, and stew for fifteen minutes. Moisten a tablespoonful of flour in a little cold milk; when smooth, add a half cup of cream, if you have it; if not, a half cup of milk. Push the mushrooms to one side; turn in this mixture, and stir until boiling. Do not stir the mushrooms or they will fall apart and become unsightly. Dish them; pour over the sauce, and serve at once. Or they may be served on toast, the dish garnished with triangular pieces of toast.
COPRINUS MICACEUS.
Wash and dry the mushrooms; put them into a deep saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter to each quart; stand over a quick fire, sort of tossing the saucepan. Do not stir, or you will break the mushrooms. As soon as they have reached the boiling point, push them to the back part of the stove for five minutes; serve on toast. These will be exceedingly dark, are very palatable, and perhaps are the most easily digested of all the varieties.
LEPIOTA.
These mushrooms, having very thin flesh and deep gills, must be quickly cooked to be good. Remove the stem, take the mushrooms in your hand, gill side down, and with a soft rag wash carefully the top, removing all the little brown scales. Put them into a baking pan, or on a broiler. Melt a little butter, allow it to settle, take the clear, oily part from the top and baste lightly the mushrooms, gill sides up; dust with salt and pepper. Place the serving dish to heat. Put the mushrooms over a quick fire, skin side down, for just a moment; then turn and boil an instant on the gill side, and serve at once on the heated plate.
In this way Lepiota procera is most delicious of all mushrooms; but if cooked in moist heat, it becomes soft, but tough and unpalatable; if baked too long, it becomes dry and leathery. It must be cooked quickly and eaten at once. All the edible forms may be cooked after this recipe.