Now I know what a matsutake mushroom is. Like most things these days, I first came across the word matsutake somewhere on the Internet. Someone was extolling the grandeur of this noble fungi and commenting on the impressive amount of treasure that must be parted with to acquire same. The sum of $300+ per pound in Japan stuck in my mind, as I am certain it would stick it yours!
Besides their rarity, they had a tradition associated with their consumption. Just as every autumn white truffles are shaved onto plates of pappardelle slathered in butter and Parmesan cheese, chunks of matsutake mushroom are simmered in rich dashi broth with ginko nuts and seafood, then garnished with a piece of sudachi (a Japanese citrus) and served from a dobin mushi pot.
So when I saw some matsutake mushrooms at Far West Fungi in the San Francisco's Ferry Building, the $32/lb. price (ten times the cost of "ordinary" mushrooms) wasn't much of a hindrance, because compared to $300/lb. it seemed like the bargain of the century. I bought 6 ounces, and when I got home, I sat down to research various approaches to Matsutake Dobin Mushi.
One of the most authentic sounding recipes was this one, excerpted from Simple and Delicious Japanese Cooking. It called for:
dashi stock
sake
salt
shoyu (soy sauce)
gingko nuts
bite-sized chicken pieces
shrimp, shelled and deveined
a matsutake mushroom
a sprig of mitsuba trefoil (Japanese parsley)
yuzu citrus rind, and
a dobin mushi pot
I was missing a few of these ingredients (and the pot), so a trip to Japantown (Post and Buchannan) was called for. As soon as I walked into the Nijiya Market, I saw a table piled high with packages of MATSUTAKE MUSHROOMS! And at $30/lb. they were $2/lb. cheaper than I had paid the day before. (Click on the picture to check out the price). Note that these are grade #1 the highest and most expensive quality. Matsutakes are graded #1 if the top hasn't opened yet.
I ended up making a change or two to the recipe, omitting the chicken, substituting lime zest for yuzu rind, and adding some bottled yuzu juice to the broth. Also, since this seemed a special occasion, I made the dashi from scratch using some very helpful instructions I got here.
Matsutake mushrooms smell like the forest with a heady, earthy aroma. And since they aren't cultivated, you have to be very thorough in cleaning them. When I sliced the first mushroom open, I noticed just how firm and white the flesh was. These are almost crisp; they are certainly crunchy.
I added all of the ingredients save for the lime zest, yuzu juice, and mitsuba leaves to the dashi and brought it to the boil. Then into the pot and into a seamer for two minutes. A garnish of mitsuba and lime zest, plus a dash of yuzu juice finished off the dish. Then it was dinner time.
With the quick cooking the mushrooms retained both their crunchy texture and the earthiness of their flavor. The gingko nuts seemed to go well with the mushrooms, and the citrusy yuzu juice was especially nice, adding some bite to the broth and pairing exceptionally well with the mushrooms. Even though the shopping took about ten times as long as the cooking, the whole effort was a great success, and since I still have about 8 oz. of matsutakes left, we will have this again soon.
The next day, I tried two other matsutake experiments. For breakfast, I used a Japanese mandolin to slice the mushrooms very thin. I then sautéed them in some salt and butter and served them with eggs. The texture was still quite firm, and there was no caramelizing as with more common button mushrooms. This wasn't anything special, certainly not at the price.
The other experiment was to take a mushroom, clean it and then break it into rough bite-sized pieces. The pieces were then tossed with salt and sake and placed in a dobin mushi pot with a piece of konbu. The pot was then steamed. The recipe I had found on the web, suggested two minutes, but that didn't seem to do anything. After five minutes there was some rich sauce and the mushrooms had warmed up quite well. This was delicious and simple and communicated the essence of these mushrooms, uncomplicated by any distractions.
It has been fun playing with the matsutakes, and given the great pile of packages at Nijiya, I'll have ample opportunity to try other preparations as the days grow shorter. Perhaps I'll try a Matsutake Chawan Mushi!
to anyone that knows how to ship these pine mushrooms around and make profit contact me for low prices... anyone in japan that i can trust i will give a 10 pound offer to see if you are trustworthy