RECIPES FOR COOKING MUSHROOMS. 281 



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 unpalat- 

 able ; 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. 



These are perhaps the best of all mushrooms for drying. In this 

 condition they are easily kept, and add so much to an ordinary meat 

 sauce. 



OYSTER MUSHROOMS (Pleurotus). 



Wash and dry the mushrooms ; cut them into strips crosswise of 

 the gills, trimming off all the woody portion near the stem side. 

 Throw the mushrooms into a saucepan, allowing a tablespoonful of 

 butter to each pint ; sprinkle over a half teaspoonful of salt; cover, 

 and cook slowly for twenty minutes. Moisten a tablespoonful of 

 flour in a half cup of milk ; when perfectly smooth, add another half 

 cup ; turn this into the mushroom mixture ; bring to boiling point, 

 add just a grating of nutmeg, a few drops of onion juice, and a dash 

 of pepper. Serve as you would stewed oysters. 



To make this into a la poulette, add the yolks of two eggs just 

 as you take the mixture from the fire, and serve on toast. 



Mock Oysters. Trim the soft gill portion of the Pleurotus ostreatus 

 into the shape of an oyster ; dust with salt and pepper ; dip in beaten 

 egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry in smoking hot fat as you would 

 an oyster, and serve at once. This is, perhaps, the best method of 

 cooking this variety. 



RUSSULA. 



While in this group we have a number of varieties, they may all 

 be cooked after one recipe. The stems will be removed, the mush- 

 rooms carefully washed, always holding the gill side down in the 

 water, drained in a colander ; and while they apparently do not con- 

 tain less water than other mushrooms, the flesh is rather dense, and 

 they do not so quickly melt upon being exposed to heat. They are 

 nice broiled or baked, or may be chopped fine and served with may- 

 onnaise dressing, stuffed into peeled tomatoes, or with mayonnaise 



