Bob said:
I haven't seen fresh morels or porcini, and I'm not quite ready to settle for dried: There's no hurry about any of this, I just seize the opportunities whenever they arise.
Bob
I grew up with fresh morels: my dad is a morel hound and can spot them anywhere. I went mushrooming with him many times and he saw what was invisible to me. He can find them near a suburban baseball field. Must be that Lithuanian thing. We also had other fresh mushrooms but they were called shaggy manes, pinkies, etc. and I don't know their biological names.
I liked the morels best of all, just fried in butter. Better than a steak.
Since I haven't had a fresh morel in years the dried ones will suffice. They can go for $12 or so an ounce but they puff up after soaking. Dad has dried them before, too. Sometimes he froze other varieties but they often seemed slimy to me as a kid. Actually, I think some of those other dried varieties tasted better than the frozen ones.
I will have to become more well-versed on what's available in the stores now, as I haven't really cooked with porcinis, etc. I will just have to try more different varieties.
grismalkin
