Fire-Roasted Mushroom Caps with Pounded Herb Oil
Big mushroom caps cooked straight on wood coals, then dressed with garlic, herbs, and oil.
- calories
- 260
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 43
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Large mushroom caps | 6 to 8 | stems removed, caps flat and clean; wine caps or portobello |
|---|---|---|
| Leafy herbs | 2 loose cups (about 20 g) | parsley, chives, whatever is fresh |
| Garlic | 1 clove | |
| Good olive oil | 1/3 cup | in a leakproof bottle |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | several grinds | |
| Lemon | 1, cut into wedges | |
| Firewood | enough for a coal bed |
Method
- Burn hardwood down to a flat bed of glowing coals. Charcoal briquettes will cook the caps but leave none of the smoke flavor, so use wood if you have it.
- Chop the herbs and garlic fine, then work them with the salt against the side of a mug or bowl with the back of a spoon until they turn pasty. Stir in the oil and the pepper. Set it aside.
- Lay the caps gill side up straight on the coals. Do not oil them first. Oil on coals means flames, and flames mean charcoal instead of dinner.
- Give them four or five minutes, then flip with tongs and go another four or five. They should be soft all the way through and slumped, not stiff. Undercooked wild mushrooms upset stomachs.
- Pull them off, brush the ash away, and pile them in a bowl. Spoon the herb oil over while they are hot and turn them until coated.
- Squeeze lemon over the top and eat with fingers.
This one only works with fresh mushrooms, so it is a car camping or basecamp dish, not something you carry for four days. Big flat caps are the whole point. They sit on the coals like small steaks and cook without falling apart, and there is nowhere for a bug or a soft spot to hide, so pick clean ones.
The oil goes on after, never before. Oiled mushrooms dripping onto coals flare up and coat the caps in soot. Cooking them dry lets the wood smoke do the seasoning, and the raw garlic and herbs land on hot mushrooms at the end, where the heat pulls the flavor out without cooking it flat. Cook them longer than looks necessary. Wild mushrooms rushed through heat are a bad night.
Packing
Herbs, garlic, and mushrooms ride in the cooler. Oil goes in a bottle with a taped cap. Grind the pepper and measure the salt at home into one small tin so you are not carrying two shakers.
Variations
- No wood fire: lay the caps on a grill grate over coals and accept a milder result.
- Thick slabs of chicken of the woods work the same way, watched closer so they do not char.
- Stir a spoonful of capers or chopped olives into the herb oil for salt and body.
https://foragerchef.com/wild-mushroom-caps-cooked-in-embers