The market · Mushrooms · Southern Europe, Northern and Central Europe

Porcini

Ceps: fat-stemmed wild mushrooms with a sponge beneath the cap instead of gills — nutty, meaty, the prize of the autumn woods.

nutty · earthy · meaty
Porcinilast weeks

What to do with it

Kenji Hara's Sourdough, 100% ryePorcini would give it depthIbu Sari's Beef rendangPorcini would give it depthRosa Ibarra's Clarified milk punch, mezcal and pineapplePorcini would give it depthMira Kowalski's Pierogi ruskiePorcini would give it depth

Kinds

Fresh
Late summer and autumn; firm, with a pale, tight sponge.
Dried
Deeper and all year; a little goes a long way.

If you can't find it

Dried, almost everywhere.

  1. 1Dried porcini
    About a tenth of the weight, soaked; use the strained water
    You lose the fresh texture — dried taste deeper.

Goes with

buttergarlicparsleyrisotto rice

Knowing it

Where to buy
Fresh from specialist greengrocers and Italian markets; dried from delis. Also sold as ceps, and in Poland as borowiki.
A little history
Dried ceps go into Polish Christmas Eve dishes — the mushroom uszka in barszcz among them.
Worth knowing
Strain the soaking water through paper — it's full of flavour, and grit.

More mushrooms, in season with it

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