Notes about Recipes in this book

• Bread pudding with seared beech mushrooms and thyme

  • bching on April 03, 2015

    The beech mushrooms really improve the texture of what would otherwise be a predictably soft bread pudding.

• King trumpet and tomato sandwiches with spicy mayo

  • EdM on August 01, 2020

    Every element is good, but . . . it's all about the tomatoes.

• King trumpet toasts with Gouda, apricot jam, and arugula

  • bching on April 10, 2017

    These were perfectly tasty while I was eating them--and I acquired the ingredients specifically in order to make this dish. But the dish was not delicious enough to demand another shopping trip. In other words, I would make this again if I happened to have the ingredients (languishing) on hand but would not seek the ingredients out in order to make the dish.

  • EdM on February 01, 2018

    Recipe title says Gouda, ingredients say Gruyere - both are good. Apricot jam makes it, providing sweet fruit to earthy mushroom and cheese flavors, textures.

• Grilled king trumpet mushrooms with orange and black pepper

  • bching on March 20, 2015

    Very good use of king trumpet stems. The recipe says 4 servings although two of us easily ate it all. It made an excellent dinner over steamed freekeh.

• Maitake tikka masala

  • babyfork on August 06, 2015

    I loved this! Really delicious. While the photo on EYB shows peas, there are potatoes, not peas in the original cookbook recipe. I made the recipe using some frozen peas instead of potatoes though and liked it that way. I didn't have the mushroom stock handy and omitted that...it was only a half cup of liquid, so doubt it made a huge difference. I did not have a charcoal briquet, but just put the whole dish into my electric smoker at 225 degrees and smoked with cherry wood for about 15 minutes. Will make again.

  • babyfork on April 18, 2020

    I'm surprised it's been so long since I made this dish again! It can definitely stand up to a little tinkering and still be great. Due to the pandemic, I adapted this to what I had on hand. I used 8 oz of maitake versus the 14 oz called for. I omitted the cardamom pod seeds and menthi (I only realized that I omitted the cardamom while I was rereading the recipe...I had it, just missed it when reading I guess). I find the cinnamon stick doesn't grind well so I used cassia buds instead. I skipped the mushroom stock and used 8 oz of coconut milk. I used more potatoes and added peas. And skipped the smoking step. Served over rice with a dollop of sour cream and some fresh chives.

• Black trumpet pâté with sage and Marsala

  • rittingerv on September 01, 2023

    Would cook more liquid out as it was still kind of juicy after pureeing. Solved this by blending the last 2 tbsp butter into the pate, to make it more spreadable than juicy.

• Braised chicken thighs with black trumpet mushrooms, frizzled leeks, sweet potato puree, and vermouth gravy

  • EdM on October 13, 2016

    White fleshed (instead of orange) sweet potatoes were used - tasted good. I used 1/2 c. mushroom broth from soaking dehydrated black trumpets. Thickening of gravy may require cornstarch.

  • rittingerv on October 16, 2025

    Agree on the cornstarch or heavy cream for thickening the gravy, which is so flavorful. Then the next day I shredded the leftover chicken into the gravy, put it into a pie crust, and layered the sweet potatoes on top for a spin on shepherd's pie.

• Washington Post by T. Susan Chang

  Every once in a while, a cookbook comes along that you realize you’ve needed for years....[Selengut] has a clear and disarming style. Her passion for woodsy treasures underfoot is infectious.

  Full review