Byran Martin's mushroom miso

Are mushrooms not the most amazing thing? In fact I'd have to include everything from the huge kingdom of fungi here. Come guys, gather around, you too slimes and moulds, and bathe in some mycological love.

It's an interesting fact that trees don't necessarily produce all the oxygen that we need to thrive. It is not these trees and green plants that account for the oxygen levels in the atmosphere being of a concentration that allows animals, like us, to survive. It is in fact microbes called cyanobacteria that did the job originally and continue. So you should, if you feel strongly about being alive, be hugging blue-green algae rather than trees.

Mushrooms, which live at the top of the fungi tree being the most complex, are the natural flavour giver to foods. They are, depending on the variety, packed with umami richness. Even the humble button mushroom, with its ordinary appearance and subtle flavour can, when introduced in great numbers, add a staggering amount of flavour to a dish.

Obviously right up the top in concentration are the white and black truffles but along the way you find some really interesting mushrooms to play around with that won't send you broke once you get the taste for them. Exploring the markets for weird things to eat, as I do, I was pleasantly happy to find some wild mushrooms recently. The intermittent rains we've been having are like stop and go buttons for mushrooms. Some cold weather then a good shower that clears will have the fields popping with mushrooms. You know the story though, unless you are nothing short of an expert you don't go eating anything that emerges after a storm.

So one would presume that finding these boxes of mushrooms in a grocer would be a pretty safe bet. I certainly would and relished the fact that not only did they have the pine mushroom but also these huge slippery jacks. They are quite distinct too, similar orange colour but a more sponge like gills and, you guessed it, a slippery texture rather than the dry feel to the saffron milk caps (pine mushrooms).

Back at the office, one of our harvest people is a known mushroomer so he also turned up with a bag of pines and slippery jacks. I haven't seen the latter in quantity here before so I've been quite taken with the idea of cooking some up in new and interesting ways. If you can't find them at the markets and don't have the confidence I have in people I've really only just met, than I'd suggest you use cultivated mushrooms for the following recipe.

Enter, keeping on the fungi theme, aspergillus. This fungus, a mould really, is used to make one of the most important food stuffs in Japan, miso. It's made by fermenting grains like rice, soy and barley with this fungus to make a quite salty and sometimes sweet paste that is used to make a soup base. It's really easy to use, also has that rich umami flavour boosting quality.

A simple way of combining our two components is as a soup to serve with simple steamed rice and maybe a poached egg along with spring onions. Once you have the soup base it takes no time at all to whip up the rice and even add some more complex proteins like grilled chicken or roast duck but really, with the amount of mushroomy goodness you pack into this stock, you don't need anything else.

Mushroom miso

1kg mushrooms, sliced
1kg chicken bones
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, flattened
40g-60g red miso paste
steamed rice
4 eggs, soft poached
spring onions, sliced finely
soy to taste

First make a chicken stock. Place the chicken bones in a pot covered with cold water, bring to a simmer and drain the water and rinse the bones. Start again and bring the bones, with just enough fresh water to cover again, back to a simmer, add the vegetables and gently simmer for an hour or so. Strain the stock and bring back to a simmer, you should have about 600ml-800ml of stock.

Slice the mushrooms into fairly thin slices but don't overthink this, they are all going to be cooked in the process. Chuck these into the stock. If you have a pressure cooker I'd suggest you do this under full pressure for 30 minutes. Otherwise bring the stock for an hour. You will possibly need a little more stock to get everything into a liquid state.

Once the time is up, strain the stock, discard the mushrooms and bring to a simmer again. Stir in the miso, it'll take some mixing and then taste it as you are looking at adding just enough to creep up on the mushroom flavour. Red miso is quite salty too, so you won't need to add much soy, again taste as you add.

Serve warm in a small bowl along with another filled with steamed rice with a poached egg on top. Garnish both with spring onions.