I long ago learned that mushrooms are a love-it-or-hate-it food.  Seems that very few people are passive on them; either they wish their meals had more of them, or they never want to see one ever again.  Personally, I’m in the “love them” category, but I have to admit, my knowledge of them could use a ton of work.

Push comes to shove, I really only know four kinds – the button, the portabello, the shiitake, and the oyster.  Of the four, I actually like the oyster the best – I find it has the fullest flavor, and it goes with the most dishes (even my one attempt at pasta sauce used the oyster).  That said, when I make stuffed mushrooms, I end up falling back on the portabello.  You can’t really stuff an oyster properly, which is tragic, but you work with what you can get.

That said, I’ve been tempted to give morels, hen of the woods, and straw mushrooms a try. I’ve even pondered making my own mushroom broth, to be enjoyed much like French onion soup… of course, that’ll be quite the experiment.

Also, sorry for the delay in updating – when the huge storm hits, you worry less about experiments.  I’ve tragically been living on soup and grilled cheese for the past few days.  Unless you consider melting together Port Salud with blueberry jam to be a fascinating experimental sandwich, it’s been extremely dull for me culinarily.  Hopefully, things will be back in full swing shortly.