Fungi are Friends

Between 1919 and 1922, the great Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky worked day and night to create posters for the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA), which broadcast the latest revolutionary news in storefront windows. Mayakovsky writes in his memoirs that he was so carried away by his work that he hardly slept; his meals were catch-as-catch-can. Even so, in season he managed to take time off from his revolutionary activities to supplement his meager diet with nearly daily forays into the woods for mushrooms.  With typical hyperbole, Mayakovsky explained to his friend Roman Jakobson, the brilliant linguist, that mushroom gathering was the ideal pastime for inspiring poetry. He claimed that he wrote large portions of Mystery Bouffe and 150 Million while in pursuit of his favorite fungi. 

Exaggerated as Mayakovsky’s story may be, there is no disputing that Russians profess a deep love for mushrooms. Here is another Russian writer, Vladimir Nabokov, reminiscing in Speak, Memory about his mother and mushrooms:

One of her greatest pleasures in summer was the very Russian sport of khodit’ po griby (looking for mushrooms). Fried in butter and thickened with sour cream, her delicious finds appeared regularly on the dinner table. Not that the gustatory moment mattered much. Her main delight was in the quest, and this quest had its rules…

Rainy weather would bring out these beautiful plants in profusion under the first birches and aspens in our park…Its shady recesses would then harbor the special boletic reek which makes a Russian’s nostrils dilate – a dark, dank, satisfying blend of damp moss, rich earth, rotting leaves.

Nabokov distinguishes the rich smell of the boletes from that of the more common agaric mushrooms, with their “preposterous gills and effete stipal ring.” He dismisses these mushrooms, noting with disdain that only “nations with timorous taste buds” enjoy them.

Mushroom likes and dislikes are explored in Mushrooms and History, two volumes published in 1957 by Valentina and R. Gordon Wasson, which offer a fascinating glimpse into mushroom culture. Mrs. Wasson, Russian by birth, and her Anglo-Saxon husband explore the meaning of mushrooms in fairy tales, literature and art throughout the world. They rue the fact that Anglo-Saxons harbor an innate fear of mushrooms (toadstools!), seeing them as slimy and mysterious in their habit of popping up unpredictably from the nether reaches of the earth. No wonder they seemed connected to the dark spirits of the underworld. Russians, by contrast, wax rhapsodic about fungi, considering them benevolent enough to decorate children’s playgrounds in the form of climbing structures. But what Russians love most is the hunt; they guard their favorite hunting grounds jealously. 

Mushroom-shy as Americans may be, we can still approximate the Russian experience by seeking out spring mushrooms, especially the prized wild morels that proliferate in late spring. We can continue the Russian experience in the kitchen by frying up the mushrooms with butter and garlic or layering them with aromatic leaves and salt to set aside for a bleak November day. We can also marinate them in vinegar or in a tomato-based sauce, or string them to dry for an intensely flavorful addition to soups. The Russians prize belye griby (known in Europe as cèpes or porcini), but even the ubiquitous button mushrooms will yield good flavor when treated properly. Try doing as nineteenth-century cooks did: make a wonderfully aromatic mushroom extract by salting mushrooms, leaving them for a few days till they give off plenty of liquid, and then boiling them down with spices like ginger and nutmeg. This concentrate will add amazing depth to sauces and stews.

Even if you cannot find any mushrooms when you go out on a hunt, or if you hesitate to eat the ones you do find, simply by observing the secret life of the woods you will have had a very Russian experience. Once back home with your bounty, or even with mushrooms from the store, you can make a quick filling that nicely complements hard-boiled eggs or pirozhki. Or mix the sautéed mushrooms with some softened butter to make a tasty spread for grilled steak. 

Mushroom-Stuffed Eggs

4 hard-boiled eggs

4 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, minced

1⁄2 pound mushrooms, trimmed and minced

2 tablespoons minced parsley

2 teaspoons minced fresh dill (or 1⁄2 teaspoon dried)

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

A few drops of hot pepper sauce

4 teaspoons mayonnaise

2 teaspoons sour cream

Pinch of salt

Sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of the butter until golden. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the mushrooms and cook for 5 to 8 minutes more. Remove from the heat.

Peel the hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolks and chop them finely. Add the yolks to the mushroom mixture along with the parsley, dill, salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce.

Mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream and pinch of salt.

Fill the eggs with the mushroom mixture, mounding it high to form tall peaks. Dribble the mayonnaise mixture over the top so that it runs slightly down the sides. 

Makes 4 servings.

Adapted from A Taste of Russia