This was served at dinner at the Red Mountain Mead Hall 2019 feast, and also cooked as the vegetable-category entry in the Feuerprobe / Trial by Fire 2019 competition at Festival of Elvegast.
What, Where, When
- Finely chopped rehydrated porcini mushrooms sautéed in butter with parsley and chives, finished with saffron cream and beaten eggs stirred in at the last minute to make a soft creamy scramble.
- From Rumpolt’s Zugemüß 138 (“Lung Potage of Morels”) — technically a fast-day substitution standing in for a dish of organ meats.
Discussion
“Take morels/ parboil them in a water/ press the water again out/ chop them small with green well tasting herbs/ put them in hot butter/ and roast them/ then take eggs/ that have been broken open/ salt it/ pepper it/ make it yellow/ and stir into the morels/ so it becomes good and well tasting. Thus one cooks lung pottage from morels.”
Mushrooms were quite a popular dish in Rumpolt, with a number of recipes for different species and preparations. They were also, as is now often the case, used as a fast-day substitution for meat dishes, in this case as a substitution for the lungs in a lung pottage (a dish which was detailed repeatedly in Rumpolt for several species of animal.)
While morels are quite expensive modernly, the dish is still successful with other varieties of dried mushroom – many varieties of mushroom, including morel, chanterelle, and others without North American equivalents, were enjoyed both in wild and cultivated farms in Reformation-era German . Porcini mushrooms were also specified in another Rumpolt recipe.
“Make it yellow” was often a reference to adding saffron, but could also be imitated on a less-costly basis using turmeric and/or safflower . Although the original recipe doesn’t include cream, infusing saffron into cream is an effective way to extract the color and flavor.
It is not obvious what the final texture of a lung pottage should be from this recipe; however, another recipe for calf-lung pottage in Rumpolt (Kalb 10) states that it should “become thick”, so I interpreted this as somewhere between a thick sauce and the more custardy sort of scrambled eggs.
Pottage of Mushrooms
Rehydrated porcini sautéed in butter with parsley and chives, finished with saffron cream and beaten eggs stirred in for a creamy scramble. Rumpolt’s Zugemüß 138.
Ingredients
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (or other dried wild mushrooms)
About 2 cups boiling water (for rehydrating)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (plus extra for garnish)
1/2 cup finely chopped chives
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pinch of saffron threads
6 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Place the dried mushrooms in a cheesecloth-lined bowl. Pour the boiling water over them, ensuring full submersion. Let stand 20-30 minutes until fully rehydrated and tender.
- Lift the cheesecloth and wring the mushrooms firmly to extract as much liquid as possible. Then wrap them in a clean kitchen towel and press again to remove the last of the water. (Save the soaking liquid for stock or another use.)
- Finely chop the mushrooms.
- Melt the butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped mushrooms and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the edges begin to brown, 5-7 minutes.
- Add the parsley and chives. Stir until the herbs wilt, 1-2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Add the cream and saffron to the mushroom pan. Reduce heat to low and let simmer gently until the saffron has fully infused the cream, 3-5 minutes.
- About 5 minutes before serving, pour the beaten eggs into the mushroom mixture. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula over low heat until the eggs set into a soft, creamy scramble, 3-4 minutes. Do not let them dry out.
- Transfer to a warm serving dish, garnish with additional chopped parsley, and serve immediately.