There are no old, bold mushroom eaters

“Hey, buddy.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty cool.”

“Mushrooms? what kind?”

“…Wait, What?”

“You ate a mushroom…but you don’t know what kind.”

“What do you mean it’s more like a fungus?”

“It was orange?!”

“OK, so let me get this straight.  You saw an unidentified fungus growing out of a rotting tree trunk, saw it was bright orange, and thought: hey let me put this in my mouth.”

“OK OK OK. Let me share something with you.  This is something everyone should know. An adage if you will. There are old mushroom eaters, and there are bold mushroom eaters, but there are no old, bold mushroom eaters…you idiot.”

“Chickeny? With a peppery finish? You are going to have a peppery finish, but that does sound kind of good. Well, if you’re still alive this evening let’s make a big fucking mushroom dinner.”

A few hours after that phone call, we learned that the mushrooms/fungus were in fact “chicken of the woods” and that our friend Amin had not come to a peppery finish. We decided to celebrate by cooking a delightful mushroom dinner.

First, we made a mess in the kitchen. We started out with a recipe for wild mushroom stew and quickly decided we needed to make more dishes. The mushrooms were in fact very peppery and did have a chickeny texture. Check out the awesome colors here.

Then, we made a salad with sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, walnuts, and asiago cheese over spinach.

After that, we panfried some chicken breasts with the mushrooms.

Our final, Iron Chef America: Secret Ingredient chicken of the woods meal.