October 17, 2015;  Savannah, Georgia

It rained nearly every day this summer and the ground at my house is like a sponge, even after a week of sun. The one good thing about the rain was the preponderance of edible mushrooms popping up everywhere. I’ve had the good fortune to find lots and lots of chanterelles, my favorites, on several occasions. The mushrooms at left are two varieties, the classic apricot-colored “smooth chanterelle” (Cantharellus lateritius) that is common from the mid-Atlantic south and Cantharellus cinnabarius, the beautiful “red chanterelle,” which is less common and not quite as flavorful, but appreciated nonetheless for being so readily identified.  (That said, I implore you never to eat a wild mushroom unless you are absolutely sure of its identity.)

Last week I made a mushroom soup that was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. We were up at my mother-in-law’s farm in the middle of nowhere and the little grocery store didn’t have leeks or shallots, so I used onions. I sautéed the onions in a half a stick of butter until they were clear, added a pound of chanterelles, sautéed them until they had lost most of their liquid, about 10 minutes, added some white wine and reduced it,  added a pound of peeled, sliced potatoes (regular white potatoes, not russets), tossed the mixture around, added a quart of chicken stock, and cooked until the potatoes were soft, about a half hour. I pureed the soup, added a cup of cream, and corrected the seasoning with a little salt and white pepper. Perfect!

Usually these velvety veloutés of France are thickened with flour, but the texture was just perfect without it. There were five of us and we each had a hearty serving and then some. You can make this with other mushrooms, but they will never be as tasty as chanterelles. You could soak some dried mushrooms in Madeira or Sherry (a traditional accompaniment to mushroom soups in the lowcountry) and add them to the soup while it is simmering for a boost of flavor.

While most cookbooks will tell you not to wash mushrooms, but to use a soft brush to assiduously clean them, chanterelles, which have to be dug up from often sandy soil, need to be thoroughly cleaned. They stand up well to a strong burst of cold water. Fortunately, they are so flavorful that the washing won’t diminish their taste. As Richard Olney has written, “Despite the intellectualizing myco-hedonists’ pretension that to wash a mushroom is sacrilege, the unpleasantness of grinding one’s teeth into gravel, soil, or other foreign matter will proscribe such blind reverence to a rational palate.” In other words, do clean them. They also store well for several days in the refrigerator.

Creamy Chanterelle Soup

2 ounces butter plus 1 or 2 more tablespoons

1 medium onion, 2 large shallots, or 1 large leek (white part only), chopped

1 pound fresh chanterelles, cleaned of all grit and cut into uniform pieces the size of the smallest ones

Salt

1 cup fruity, dry white wine, preferably the one you will drink with dinner

1 pound white potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 quart high-quality chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 cup heavy cream

freshly ground white pepper

Place 2 ounces of butter (half a stick) in a large sauté pan and, over medium heat, sauté the onion or leek until it is clear, about 10 minutes. Set aside a few of the smaller, most attractive chanterelles for garnish. Add the remaining mushrooms to the onions, raise the heat a little, add some salt, and sauté until the chanterelles have given off most of their liquid, about 10 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until most of the wine has cooked away as well. Add the potatoes, toss the mixture around, and add the stock. Simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime, sauté the reserved chanterelles with a little butter and salt in a small sauté pan and set aside.

Puree the soup in a blender for the finest texture, add the cream and stir well, and correct the seasoning with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Divide among  6 bowls and garnish with the reserved chanterelles. Serve with a fruity, dry wine such as a white Burgundy.

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The chanterelle habitat in the lowcountry is widely varied, but they are most easily found under established live oaks where there is a grassy lawn underneath — like the oak alleys that typify old plantation drives. And while they most often are found in the summer and fall after rains, they can grow in clusters or scattered, in both coniferous and hardwood forests, on damp mossy soil, in pine needles, or in rotting leaves.  There’s a creek bed (left) that is usually dry and that runs through one of my favorite hunting grounds.  (No, I will NOT tell you where it is!) I have a friend who is in the timber business and when I told him where this was, he knew it well, and then showed me videos and explained to me that that very spot has the largest concentration of Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes, the biggest, baddest venomous snake in the country!

When I find a huge trove and pick a lot, I often tire of cleaning them. The lowcountry soil is so sandy that grit splashes up into the gill-like folds of the mushrooms. I sometimes then make chanterelle butter, the recipe for which I gave on the blog six years ago. A little of this butter, a handful of chanterelles, three eggs, salt, and pepper make for one of the best omelets you’ll ever eat. Surely you don’t need a recipe.

One last note: the plate at the top of the page, with my initials, J.T., which is what many people call me, I acquired when the old Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, which was a Jack Tar Hotel, was first sold back in the 70s. I used to have a lot of the plates, but they’ve been broken over the years. People ask me all the time if I had them made! No, I’m not THAT narcissistic!