mushrooms | Cooking in the Archives

I have wanted to share this mushroom recipe with you for a long time. In the autumn of 2023, I puzzled over an image of this recipe from the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA f MS. 1968.004 on my laptop screen – how did the two parts of the recipe connect?

The Recipe

to pickle mushroomes Cor. Newman

Take all the sort of the best button Mushroomes & peel
them very Cleane & put them in a pail of fair water
set the water tho boyle your Mushroomes boyle before yo
put your Mushroomes in as soon as your water boyles
after your Mushroomes are in, take your kettle off
then take your Mushroomes straine the water from
them in a sive, then take a Clean Cloth & lay them
upon it with ther Combes downwards till they are
Cold, then take vinegar & peper & Cloves & salt
& put to the Mushroomes in a Crock for 3 wekks
then Change the vinegar & put them into a pot or
bottle with oyle or suit & stop them Close, Change
your vinegar as often as you see occasion
She letts you boyle a while but then they will
not look so white, & she does not Chang the
vinegar at all if she doe not see they want
it & she put nether oyle nor suit upon them &
they keep very well, & instead of
peeling them she rubs them with a flannell.

The recipe “to pickle mushroomes” from “Cor. Newman” unfolds in two parts. First, the general recipe. After the mushrooms have been harvested, cleaned and boiled, they can be seasoned with pepper and cloves and preserved with vinegar and salt. Regularly changing the vinegar will keep them fresher longer as will sealing the pot with oil or suet (animal fat) to keep out foreign matter that might spoil the batch. In the second part of the recipe, “she” provides specific emendations to the previous instructions. She rubs the mushrooms with a flannel instead of pealing them. She neither changes the vinegar nor uses fat to seal the pickle.

Looking at the recipe on my computer screen I could not tell if I was seeing a cut or a crease in the gap between the two versions of the recipe. Was there more material? Was part of the recipe missing? f MS. 1968.004 is a miscellaneous volume of manuscript recipes that were bound together at a later date. Some of the leaves seemed to have once been a part of other bound recipe books, some seemed to be loose papers, and others, tantalizingly, seemed to be letters. When I saw the manuscript in person, it all made sense: There was a fold between the two parts of the recipe because the recipe was a part of a letter.

For
Mrs Blome: at Mr
Nuewmans house: at
Hedalls near Lenock
In Kent
Fr: I Codrington

This recipe “to pickle mushroomes” is on one side of a sheet of paper and the address and closing seal are on the other. The sheet bears the distinct folds of a letter. Hendall Manor in Kent, mentioned in this address, still stands and is now a wedding venue.

I cannot always locate a recipe in place and in a community of people as well as I can locate this one. The letter writer (I Codrington) layered two recipes (Cor. Newman’s original and the variations) and sent them on their way to Kent (to Mrs Blome at Mr Nuewman’s house). We not only know where this recipe moved, but that it was used. In my recipe recreation, I have drawn on both versions of the recipe.

Updated Recipe

8 oz, 227g pack button mushrooms
3 cups water
8 whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
¾ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon salt
¼ cup olive oil
a 4-cup mason jar, fresh from the dishwasher or sterilized with boiling water

Clean the mushrooms. Trim the stalks as needed.

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Put the mushrooms in just as the water boils. Turn off the heat and let the mushrooms sit in the hot water for five minutes.

Pour off the water and remove the mushrooms from the pot. Arrange them, combs down, on a clean dishtowel.

When the mushrooms are dry, place them in your prepared mason jar. Add the whole peppercorns and cloves. Prepare the brine by stirring together vinegar and salt in a bowl or measuring jug. Pour over the mushrooms. Pour the olive oil on top last.

Store in the refrigerator for three weeks.

Allow the mushrooms to come to room temperature before serving.

The Results

The pickled mushrooms are surprisingly meaty and sharply acidic. I suspect their texture is in part an illusion forged from the strong flavors of the peppercorns, cloves, and salt and their association with cooked meat. But the texture created by quick-cooking and then pickling also contributes to the meatiness of these mushrooms. I enjoyed eating them alongside cheese, bread, and greens for their substantial savoriness and for the vinegar tang that added contrast to the spread. I appreciated the fatty hints of olive oil coating the mushrooms, too. Although the fat was intended as a preservative, it also contributed to the finished dish as an incidental dressing.

If I were to make these pickled mushrooms again, I might dilute the vinegar or play with the balance between vinegars to seek-out a more mild acidity. Let me know if you try these and if you adjust the vinegar!

Last week, I spent a few hours typing up recipes that were originally written in a lovely, erratic cursive in Jane Dawson‘s cookbook. Dawson’s manuscript cookbook is held at the Folger Shakespeare Library, but I was transcribing recipes into readable pixels alongside students and colleagues on my campus as well as participants located all over the country and around the world. This year’s “Transcribathon” was both successful and energizing. We completely transcribed Dawson’s book and, as you may remember from my previous discussions of early modern handwriting, this is not a small achievement. Participants were also inspired to try some of Dawson’s recipes in a Cook-Along. Both the original transcription event and subsequent cook-along were organized by the Early Modern Recipes Online Collective, ie. EMROC.

to order mushromes

How could I say no to a Cook-Along? Although the coordinators suggested trying a recipe for Lemon Wafers, I was intrigued by a mushroom recipe that I’d transcribed: “To Order Mushromes.” First of all, the recipe sounded tasty. Mushrooms with onions, herbs, and spices? What could be more delicious and comforting as the temperature dropped and the autumnal equinox came and went? But I was also intrigued by Dawson’s use of “order” as a culinary verb. I imagined regimented mushrooms aligned in neat rows on a cutting broad or chopped into impossibly regular slices. Of course, none of these senses of “order” operate in Dawson’s recipe. Instead, as the Oxford English Dictionary informed me, Dawson was using an obsolete definition, “To put in order or readiness (for a purpose); to make ready, prepare,” that was often used in culinary contexts. This lovely dish is not especially orderly, but it is a wonderfully simple preparation for mushrooms.

to order mushromes

Original Recipe

To order Mushromes
Take mushrums pill them & wash them well in salt & water then
put them in a pewter dish with a little water sume sweet hearbs an
onyon; some mace cloves & whole peper, let them stew betwixt
two dishes about half an houre: then put to them some strong
broth mixed with yolkes of Eggs & sarve it up

to order mushromes

Slowly cook the mushrooms with seasonings. Then flavor the rich broth with stock and egg yolks. A simple and delicious mushroom preparation. I decided to use the “sweet herbs” sage and thyme because both are going wild in my container garden right now.

Updated Recipe

16 oz baby Bella mushrooms, quartered
1 small onion, sliced
thyme, 8 sprigs fresh
sage, 2 sprigs fresh
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t mace
1/4 t cloves
2 c water
1 c broth (vegetable or meat based)
2 egg yolks

Chop the mushrooms and onion. Put these vegetables, the fresh herbs, seasonings, and water into a heavy pot and place on the stovetop.

Cover and simmer for 12 minutes. Then remove the lid and simmer for an additional 18 minutes. Remove the herb stalks with tongs. Add the broth and simmer for 5 minutes.

While the broth simmers, temper the egg yolks with some of the cooking liquid. This should help prevent the yolks from cooking instead of thickening your broth. Remove the pot from the heat and slowly and gently add the egg yolks.

Serve immediately with some crusty bread.

to order mushromes

The Results

Easy, satisfying, and endlessly adaptable, Dawson’s recipe for ordering mushrooms makes a wonderful main or side. I could imagine serving this alongside polenta or freshly baked biscuits. I can see myself pairing this with braised collards or a kale salad. I would eat this alongside a delicious roast chicken and creamy mashed potatoes. Dawson’s mushroom recipe is vegetarian friendly as long as you use a strong vegetable broth and you can easily make it vegan by leaving out the egg yolks.

A confession: As you might have noticed from the photos, my egg yolk turned into scrambled egg in the hot liquid despite my best efforts. Luckily, I’d planned to eat my mushrooms with toast and eggs for lunch.