48 EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 



The more usual method is to employ it 

 cooked as a sauce, for it is not of a kind 

 suitable to eat by itself, but when cut in 

 slices and broiled with steak it gives an 

 excellent sauce. There is no resemblance 

 whatever to the mushroom flavour, or 

 odour, but a slight acidity of taste ; with 

 that exception, it is most like beef gravy. 

 It differs in another respect from all other 

 fungi, that it is in its prime for cook- 

 ing when thoroughly matured and almost 

 verging on decay. When very young it is 

 disagreeable, and, until quite mature, will 

 retain some astringency, suggesting the 

 tannin of the oak. 



