Marinated Mushrooms

As summer’s heat gives way to autumn’s crisp air, days grow shorter, and leaves change color, Russians grab their wicker baskets and head to the forest. For Russians, mushroom hunting is a ritual that gently eases the body and soul into the calendar’s colder months. 

Gathering, sorting, and preserving mushrooms—the so-called third hunt, following the first hunt, for big game, and the second for small game—is almost a mystical experience, and mushroom hunters, while proud to show off their finds, are secretive about where they discovered them. 

In his autobiography, Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov describes his mother’s favorite pastime of picking mushrooms:

One of her greatest pleasures in summer was the very Russian sport of hodit’ po gribi (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 firs, birches, and aspens in our park, especially in its older part, east of the carriage road that divided the park in two. Its shady recesses would then harbor that special boletic reek which makes a Russian’s nostrils dilate—a dark, dank, satisfying blend of damp moss, rich earth, rotting leaves. But one had to poke and peer for a goodish while among the wet underwood before something really nice, such as a family of bonneted baby edulis or the marbled variety of scaber, could be discovered and carefully teased out of the soil.

Marinated mushrooms are tasty nibbles that enhance just about any hors d’oeuvre or zakuska platter. Be sure to use small, young button mushrooms with tightly closed caps. This mushroom is called shampinyon in the Russian market, from the French champignon.

Cooking note: Standing time at least 5 days.

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 pounds firm small button mushrooms, cleaned and stems trimmed close to the caps

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon noniodized salt

1 cup water

1⁄2 cup 5% white wine vinegar

3 whole cloves

2 small bay leaves

5 black peppercorns

3 whole allspice berries

1 teaspoon sugar

1 medium garlic clove, slivered

1 tablespoon oil

Sterilize a wide-mouthed 1-quart canning jar and lid [according to normal canning procedures].

Bring 1 quart water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the mushrooms and 1 teaspoon of the salt, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for three minutes. Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Combine the 1 cup water, the vinegar, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, sugar, and the remaining 1 tablespoon salt in a small nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, immediately remove from the heat, and skim any foam. Add the garlic and let cool to room temperature.

Spoon the mushrooms into the jar, add the marinade, and carefully pour the oil on top to form a seal. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 5 days before eating. Once opened, the mushrooms will keep for 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes about one quart.

Excerpted with permission from A Year of Russian Feasts, by Catherine Cheremeteff Jones (see review, page 46).