Matsutake Mushrooms

[DonRocks]

Hot soba noodles with matsutake -- most expensive soba ($30) I've ever eaten, worth it if you love matsutake.

Matsutakes are *ex*-*pen*-*sive*! I recently got an order consisting of two matsutakes, sliced length-wise, wrapped in aluminum foil, cooked on the grill, and served inside the foil ... and it was $19! That's all it was, was two mushrooms, wild-foraged from Oregon - no salt, no butter, no nothing - didn't need anything. Delicious. Painful, but delicious.

[Poivrot Farci]

Foraged implies wild, and unless it is on Nat Geo's Secret Lives of Predators, it's not really "wild".

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/us/faded-dreams-of-riches-drive-pursuit-of-a-celebrated-fungus.html?hp

[zoramargolis]

A most ethereal matsutake soup was served to me at Mori in West Los Angeles. It was one course of an omakase meal, so I don't really know the cost. A small covered bowl was set in front of me, and I was instructed to lean my head over the bowl and inhale as the lid was lifted off and the steam bathed my face. Extraordinary.

[thistle]

So, a facial & food in one great experience! I saw something recently about growing mushrooms in mini farms made out of shipping pallets- the layers were loaded w/ inoculated logs & watered regularly, sounds like something you could set up in a backyard w/out too much work.

[DonRocks]

A most ethereal matsutake soup was served to me at Mori in West Los Angeles. It was one course of an omakase meal, so I don't really know the cost. A small covered bowl was set in front of me, and I was instructed to lean my head over the bowl and inhale as the lid was lifted off and the steam bathed my face. Extraordinary.

So, a facial & food in one great experience! I saw something recently about growing mushrooms in mini farms made out of shipping pallets- the layers were loaded w/ inoculated logs & watered regularly, sounds like something you could set up in a backyard w/out too much work.

Yes, this "aluminum foil" presentation (at Izakaya Seki) was supposed to elicit a similar sensation when you opened the foil.

[Cizuka Seki]

Matsutakes are *ex*-*pen*-*sive*! I recently got an order consisting of two matsutakes, sliced length-wise, wrapped in aluminum foil, cooked on the grill, and served inside the foil ... and it was $19! That's all it was, was two mushrooms, wild-foraged from Oregon - no salt, no butter, no nothing - didn't need anything. Delicious. Painful, but delicious.

Correction -- There was a side of sea salt and half a kabosu.  and yes, the whole point of the packet is for you to enjoy the matsutake smell before digging in.

[DonRocks]

Correction -- There was a side of sea salt and half a kabosu.  and yes, the whole point of the packet is for you to enjoy the matsutake smell before digging in.

Correction duly noted.