Stewed Mushrooms

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Yield: 5.0 – 6.0 persons
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (8)

1 pint mushroom-buttons ↝ Mushrooms, white button [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
3 oz. of fresh butter ↝ Asparagus, fresh, cooked with butter or margarine [Other vegetables and combinations]
white pepper and salt to taste ↝ Spices, pepper, white [Spices and Herbs]
white pepper and salt to taste ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
lemon-juice ↝ Lemon juice, raw [Fruits and Fruit Juices]
1 teaspoonful of flour ↝ Flour, 00 [Cereal Grains and Pasta]
cream or milk ↝ Cream, whipped [Cream cheese, sour cream, whipped cream]
1 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg ↝ Oil, nutmeg butter [Fats and Oils]

Instructions (9)

Cut off the ends of the stalks, and pare neatly a pint of mushroom-buttons.
Put them into a basin of water, with a little lemon-juice, as they are done.
When all are prepared, take them from the water with the hands, to avoid the sediment, and put them into a stewpan with the fresh butter, white pepper, salt, and the juice of 1/2 lemon.
Cover the pan closely, and let the mushrooms stew gently from 20 to 25 minutes.
Thicken the butter with the above proportion of flour.
Add gradually sufficient cream, or cream and milk, to make the sauce of a proper consistency.
Put in the grated nutmeg.
If the mushrooms are not perfectly tender, stew them for 5 minutes longer.
Remove every particle of butter which may be floating on the top, and serve.

Original Text

STEWED MUSHROOMS.

1127. INGREDIENTS.—1 pint mushroom-buttons, 3 oz. of fresh butter, white pepper and salt to taste, lemon-juice, 1 teaspoonful of flour, cream or milk, 1 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg.

Mode.—Cut off the ends of the stalks, and pare neatly a pint of mushroom-buttons; put them into a basin of water, with a little lemon-juice, as they are done. When all are prepared, take them from the water with the hands, to avoid the sediment, and put them into a stewpan with the fresh butter, white pepper, salt, and the juice of 1/2 lemon; cover the pan closely, and let the mushrooms stew gently from 20 to 25 minutes; then thicken the butter with the above proportion of flour, add gradually sufficient cream, or cream and milk, to make the sauce of a proper consistency, and put in the grated nutmeg. If the mushrooms are not perfectly tender, stew them for 5 minutes longer, remove every particle of butter which may be floating on the top, and serve.

Time.—1/2 hour. Average cost, from 9d. to 2s. per pint.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable.—Meadow mushrooms in September and October.

TO PROCURE MUSHROOMS.—In order to obtain mushrooms at all seasons, several methods of propagation have been had recourse to. It is said that, in some parts of Italy, a species of stone is used for this purpose, which is described as being of two different kinds; the one is found in the chalk hills near Naples, and has a white, porous, stalactical appearance; the other is a hardened turf from some volcanic mountains near Florence. These stones are kept in cellars, and occasionally moistened with water which has been used in the washing of mushrooms, and are thus supplied with their minute seeds. In this country, gardeners provide themselves with what is called spawn, either from the old manure of cucumber-beds, or purchase it from those whose business it is to propagate it. When thus procured, it is usually made up for sale in quadrils, consisting of numerous white fibrous roots, having a strong smell of mushrooms. This is planted in rows, in a dry situation, and carefully attended to for five or six weeks, when the bed begins to produce, and continues to do so for several months.

Notes

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