Cooking Really Big Morels

The VI family visited one of of our favorite farmers markets this past weekend, Dane County. It was the last week of (Wisconsin) morels. We bought a few of the huge variety, to stuff.

Now, stuffing, we have plenty of ideas (nettles, goat cheese, Minnesota wild rice, asparagus, etc.). What I don't know is how to cook the stuffed morels. Do I braise with some liquid? bake? what?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

My preferred method:
After stuffing, start them in a hot pan with bacon fat, cook without moving them for about 4 minutes, then finish for another 4-5 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Morels browned in bacon fat are really quite delicious.

VI, Here is a synopsis of Jane Grigson's method, from The Mushroom Feast (1975). First, include the chopped stems of the large morels in the stuffing you prepare. Choose a dish in which you can stand your stuffed upright morels to fill the dish, and dot with butter or oil. After covering the dish with foil, set it in a pan half-filled with hot water and bake in a moderate oven, about 350 degrees. Grigson recommends an hour of cooking time. I guess the timing would depend somewhat on what is in the stuffing, but I tend to precook my stuffings -- most can stand up to this treatment. This makes it a bit easier to judge the doneness of the cooked vegetables and gives you the option of a bit of browning for added flavor in the stuffing.

I also ran across some morels this weekend - though they are not of the size you and the CQ discovered. Kudos for your resourcefulness.

I am working hard on my difficult relationship with flickr software, and when we have reconciled, I will post my pics. The farmstand is called The Jolly Green Junction. It is at Exit 121 on 94 in Michigan (There is no sign going east on 94 from Chicago, but there is a sign before Exit 121 on 94 going west.) The proprietor told me that they have wild morels through August, though Cathy2 assures me that morel season is almost over now, and the morels they will have later will be dried or frozen. Fresh morels: $32/lb. or 1/4 lb. for $10.

The Jolly Green Junction
Exit 121 off Route 94
Albion, Michigan

Ohhhh, VI's just trying to make us all jealous! Well done!

Bye-the-bye, I have worked out a method for freezing morels (and other fresh shrums). Once upon a time a student brought me nearly 5lbs of morels, thinking it might help her grade. A logic student. I congratulated her on her rapid absorption of the course material...

Slice the morels if they're fat ones, maybe 3/8ths thick. Get some butter with a teeny bit of EVOO just about to smoking. Swirl in the shrums, and cook until they just commence to give up their juice. Decant the whole slurry onto an aluminum pizza pan and put in the freezer immediately. Once it's pretty well frozen, break the sheet into good-sized shards, double freezer bag, and freeze. It works very very well.

Wish I had enough morels to have some left over to freeze... What the hey! wish I had ANY amount of morels just at the moment. :^)

Geo

Josephine wrote:VI, Here is a synopsis of Jane Grigson's method, from The Mushroom Feast (1975). First, include the chopped stems of the large morels in the stuffing you prepare. Choose a dish in which you can stand your stuffed upright morels to fill the dish, and dot with butter or oil. After covering the dish with foil, set it in a pan half-filled with hot water and bake in a moderate oven, about 350 degrees. Grigson recommends an hour of cooking time. I guess the timing would depend somewhat on what is in the stuffing, but I tend to precook my stuffings -- most can stand up to this treatment. This makes it a bit easier to judge the doneness of the cooked vegetables and gives you the option of a bit of browning for added flavor in the stuffing.

I also ran across some morels this weekend - though they are not of the size you and the CQ discovered. Kudos for your resourcefulness.

I am working hard on my difficult relationship with flickr software, and when we have reconciled, I will post my pics. The farmstand is called The Jolly Green Junction. It is at Exit 121 on 94 in Michigan (There is no sign going east on 94 from Chicago, but there is a sign before Exit 121 on 94 going west.) The proprietor told me that they have wild morels through August, though Cathy2 assures me that morel season is almost over now, and the morels they will have later will be dried or frozen. Fresh morels: $32/lb. or 1/4 lb. for $10.

The Jolly Green Junction
Exit 121 off Route 94
Albion, Michigan

I'll post some pics on my morels later as tonights the night--how we reconcile 4 minutes with 60 minutes I have not yet decided.

Anyways, for morel wanters, there were medium sized morels at the Daley Plaza Farmer's Market today--$44/lb (not a bad price).