To pickle mushrooms
ELINOR FETTIPLACE’S RECEIPT BOOK
Take your Buttons, clean ym with a spunge & put ym in cold water as you clean ym, then put ym dry in a stew pan & shake a handfull of salt over ym, yn stew ym in their own liquor till they are a little tender; then strain ym from yr liquor & put ym upon a cloth to dry till they are quite cold. Make your Pickle before you do your Mushrooms, yt it may be quite cold before you put ym in. The Pickle must be made with White-Wine, White-Pepper, quarter’d Nutmegg, a Blade of Mace, & a Race of ginger.
Wine-Pickled Mushrooms
Description
Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book gives us a few recipes for preserving foods, and in ways not dissimilar from today's methods, though with flavors more characteristic of her time than ours. In modern terms, we would call this recipe a "quick pickle" or a "refrigerator pickle." Elinor gives no specific instructions on which pickling method this recipe is meant to follow, but the ingredients and method give the indication. Of the three major types of pickles, canning pickles won't be invented for two hundred years after this recipe, and the thorough cooking process is antithetical to a fermented pickle. It's not impossible that this was the intent, but in my recreation, the mushrooms showed absolutely no sign of fermentation. In addition, Ginger is a known antiseptic, and Nutmeg may be as well. This just isn't a favorable set of circumstances for anything buy a quick-pickle, relying on the acid from the Wine. In her recipe Elinor specifies White Wine - perhaps for the flavor, but also perhaps because it is significantly more acidic than Red Wine.
As with most modern interpretations, this recipe relies on readily-available store-bought Button Mushrooms. (I apologize if this is news to you, but Button, Cremini, and Portobello are all the same species of mushroom - Agaricus bisporus.) If you are a forager, or have other choices, this recipe should work with any edible fungus that can withstand cooking. Likewise, the mushrooms can be any shape. I bought pre-sliced Cremini because they looked best at the market that day. You could pickle your mushrooms whole, or in tiny pieces, depending on your plan for them. As a rule, if I don't have a specific purpose in mind, I leave things as whole as possible because we can always reduce them later- reassembly won't be an option. This recipe also has a great deal of room for adjustment for taste where seasonings are concerned. The important thing is that you leave the spices in large enough pieces to be easily removed from the Mushrooms. Biting into a whole spice, even pickled, is an unpleasant moment.
What should you do with the Pickled Mushrooms once you make them? Great question! They're yummy on their own, and would make an excellent counterpoint to rich meats. Serve them with roast, in a salad, on a charcuterie board, or, as I have done, use them as a filling in your Frayses.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prepare the Pickle Brine
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Combine all of the ingredients except for the Mushrooms and Salt in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
Cook the Mushrooms
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Toss the Mushrooms in the Salt and put in a cold frying pan.
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Put the pan over low heat and gently and continuously stir the Mushrooms until they begin to give off liquid.
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Once there is enough liquid to cover the bottom of the pan, you can stir them less frequently. Continue cooking the Mushrooms until they are tender all the way through.
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Strain the Mushrooms and discard the liquid, reserving the Mushrooms in a bowl to cool to room temperature.
Make the Pickle
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Once both components have been made and fully cooled, combine them in an air-tight container. Be sure that Brine fully covers the Mushrooms. If there is not enough liquid, add more Wine to cover.
A pickling weight is handy here, but if you do not have one, gently covering the surface with a paper towel is a good substitute. It will ensure the contents remain submerged. -
Allow your Pickled Mushrooms to mature in the refrigerator. The bare minimum is overnight, but I recommend at least a week to allow all of the spices to blend and mellow.
