How To Stalk Morels

I can’t take credit for this post…This is a story from GazetteOnline.com outdoors writer Orlan Love.  To view the story in it’s whole context, please click here.  Please enjoy.

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Spring is here and the hunt is on in the too-short morel season. Considered a delicacy that ranks with truffles, the hunt for morels sends thousands tramping in the woodlands in search of the elusive fungus.

Every year the fungus frenzy opens debate on the best place to find morels, the best way to cook morels, the best way to store morels and more. Bragging rights are on the line for most poundage, largest shroom and best tale.

Here’s the place to swap tales, brag, ask questions and share recipes.

Let’s get things started with some tips from The Gazette’s Guru of the Grays, Orlan Love.

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By Orlan Love
Many successful morel hunters believe that morels grow where they grow and that you do yourself a disservice by failing to look beneath almost every tree. To them I say, give me the dead elms and you take the rest of the world, and we’ll see who finds the most mushrooms.

I don’t dispute that morels have been found under apple, oak, spruce, maple and river birch trees. But the world is too big a place to conduct an unfocused search for a small fungus. Smart hunters look first for suitable dead elms and then look for morels beneath them.

The ideal elm tree is big, red, recently dead, surrounded by other dead elms, situated on a slope, far from the beaten path and surrounded by the right mix of leaf mulch, grass and other low growing vegetation.

Sometimes a tree meeting all those criteria will fail to bear. Other times a lonely scrawny stump of a dead elm will put forth a profusion of mushrooms.

Often the only way you can tell a good elm is dead is that it will have no leaf buds on its upper branches.

gray: This morel showed itself April 26 in Decatur County near the Missouri border. It was one of four morels found in four hours by two hunters. Two years ago, when the statewide temperature for April averaged more than 7 degrees warmer, three hunters in the same spot on April 21 found 22 pounds of morel in four hours.

When the soil temperature reaches 55 degrees, you can expect to start finding the small grays, the first morels to fruit in the spring. Often they are no bigger than a pencil eraser and can easily elude detection by even veteran mushroom hunters.

A mental “search image” can help focus your attention and concentration on the particular shape, size, texture and color of a morel. Otherwise, when your chance finally comes, you’ll overlook the one lightly concealed morel that could tip you to its more thoroughly camouflaged fellows.

Never be satisfied with only one morel from a likely tree. When you find the first one, chances are that more are lurking in the shadows and undergrowth
In Iowa the morel season typically runs from mid-April to the end of May. Barring unusual weather, the morel season spreads northward about 100 miles per week.
It ends when temperatures reach the upper 80s three days in a row.

Early in the season, look for morels at the top of south-facing slopes and at the south edge of flat timbers, where the sun warms the ground first. By the end of the season, morels can often be found on north-facing slopes and at the north edges of timbers, where it takes longer for soil to warm.

Hunters can maximize enjoyment of their harvest by carefully sorting morels at the end of the day. Eat bug infested morels first, followed by older morels showing signs of deterioration. Keep the freshest specimens separate from the others and either eat them last or dry them for enjoyment the following winter.

Don’t wash morels until you’re ready to eat them as it hastens their deterioration. Fresh morels will keep two to three weeks in a refrigerator under a damp paper towel.
Spring is finally here and that means morels are popping up all over Eastern iowa woodlands.

Timing is as important as location. In a monthlong mushroom season, a particular spot will be at its peak for a few days at most. If you visit too soon, you may harvest a few little gray morels. If you visit too late, you may find only trampled grass and the stubs of morels harvested by someone with better timing than you. But if you hit it right, you can attain that joyous state in which you must carefully control your movements for fear of accidentally crushing one of the many morels stretching away from you in every direction.

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TASTY TREATS
The tried and true morel lover’s recipe is probably egg and saltine crumb dredged morels sauted slowly in butter until the morsels are golden. Mouthwatering just thinking about it.

If you’re looking for some different ways to prepare morels, check out these recipes. If you’ve got one to share, please leave the recipe in the comments box.

SAUTEED MORELS WITH LEMON
Published in The Gazette May 16, 2006
Recipe from Kurt Michael Friese

Makes 2 servings as an entree or 4 servings as an appetizer

20 fresh morels
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 lemons
Salt and pepper, to taste
24 baby lettuce leaves, for garnish

Split mushrooms lengthwise and rinse thoroughly. Watch for ants that sometimes live in the hollow insides of the fungus head.

Pat mushrooms dry with clean terry cloth. Toss in seasoned flour until thoroughly coated, then set aside.

Split one lemon and juice it. Mix this juice with the wine.

Cut the other lemon into 8 wedges. Heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in large saute pan over medium high heat. Test oil with a drop of the egg. If it browns quickly (but not immediately – that’s too hot), it’s ready. Dip dusted morels into the egg, let excess drip off, then place them carefully in the pan. Do not over fill pan.

Saute morels for a couple of minutes on one side, then gently turn them to cook on the other side for 2 minutes. Remove from pan, and place on a clean terry cloth.

Proceed in the same manner with remaining mushrooms. Be careful not to let pan get too hot.

When all mushrooms are finished, swirl the wine-lemon mixture in pan to dissolve cooked food particles remaining on the bottom, then strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.

On clean plates, using teaspoons or squirt bottles, drizzle some olive oil, and less of the balsamic vinegar. Place 5 mushroom halves on plate in a star pattern. Garnish with a lemon wedge and baby lettuce leaves. Drizzle with lemon-wine mixture and serve immediately.

MOREL RECIPES from local chef

Morel mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter top roasted asaparagus spears in this appetizer

A search for other morel recipes from area cooks and chefs brought these two to light. First published May 8, 2001, in The Gazette, these recipes were created by Vino’s Italian Ristrante chef David Meyer.

ROASTED ASPARAGUS

WITH MORELS IN GARLIC BUTTER

10 asparagus stalks
3 ounces morel mushrooms
1 teaspoon garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup white wine

Blanch asparagus in boiling water. Remove and place on hot grill, roast until tender. In saute pan, combine mushrooms, garlic, butter. Add white wine, reduce until foamy.

Place asparagus on plate, top with sauteed morels. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Herb-Crusted Beef Medallions with Wild Mushrooms in a Port Wine Reduction

HERB-CRUSTED BEEF MEDALLIONS WITH
WILD MUSHROOMS IN PORT WINE REDUCTION

8 ounce beef tenderloin
1 cup toasted sourdough crumbs
1 teaspoon rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon oregano, minced
1 teaspoon parsley, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs beaten
Olive oil
3 ounces morel mushrooms
2 ounces shiitake mushrooms
2 ounces cremini mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup port wine
1 teaspoon shallot, minced

Cut beef into two 4-ounce filets. Brush filets with egg wash. Coat filets with breading.

In saute pan, add olive oil. Heat over medium heat and add filets.

Cook both sides until golden brown. Pull from pan and reserve in warm oven.

In same pan, add all the mushrooms and saute with filet juices.

When mushrooms are al dente, add garlic and butter. Saute until butter melts. Season with salt and pepper. Pull mushrooms from pan and reserve in warm oven, leaving the liquid in pan.

Using the pan juices, add shallots. Saute until liquid is evaporated; add port wine and reduce until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream.

Place filets on a plate, top with wild mushroom saute and coat with port wine reduction.