Stierbach Cooks Guild

215. To prepare a thick soup of common field mushrooms and other sorts of mushrooms.

Get field mushrooms (which are most delicate of all mushrooms) in their season, in Rome between the end of February and the middle of May.  Clean off the skin that is around them, and especially any sand on their stalk, and wash them in several changes of water.  Put them into a casserole pot where there is melted pork fat, pepper, and cinnamon, and saute them lightly with nothing else because as they cook they make their own broth.  When they have boiled a little, put in some yellow saveloy or slices of marbled prociutto to cook with them, adding a little good meat broth.  Before serving them, put in a handful of beaten herbs, a little grated bread, verjuice, pepper, cinnamon and saffron, and bring it all to a boil.  Serve them hot with the saveloy on top.

Scappi, Bartolomeo, and Terence Scully. The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): l’arte et prudenza d’un maestro cuoco. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008, p. 245-246.

REDACTION

1 lb mushrooms (8 oz white and 8 oz Baby Belle) sliced

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 TBS butter

2 cup beef broth (from bullion cubes)

1 heaping TBS of chopped herbs (basil, mint, thyme)

1 heaping TBS of bread crumbs

1 TBS white wine vinegar

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp cinnamon

Sprinkle of saffron

Saute of the mushrooms in butter cinnamon and pepper keeping the lid on the pot most of the time so they will sweat (about 20 minutes at medium heat).  Add the beef broth and bring to a boil.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients and serve.

NOTES: This makes a modest soup for 8 people of about ½ cup apiece.  I like the combination of spices – the pepper came out strongly but tempered by the cinnamon.  I would call it more liquid than thick (more bread crumbs?) but nice.

Alesia la Sabia de Murcia

Tonight we had a delightful menu. We started with a trio of soups, a thick soup of common field mushrooms and a thick soup of garlic with meat broth done two ways, one where the garlic was roasted and the other with garlic au naturel. We followed this delicious starter with a limonia or chicken with lemons accompanied by an assortment of cheeses and some bread. Finally, we finished our meal with a sweet berry torte which was the perfect touch to end our feast.