The Complete Mushroom Book: Savory Recipes for Wild and Cultivated Varieties

More than just a cookbook, Carluccio's exuberant guide to gathering and eating higher fungi is actually both a field guide and a recipe book. The author, who learned to collect wild mushrooms and truffles as a young boy in his native Italy, brought his passion for the""quiet hunt,"" and for refined gastronomy, with him to London, where he now owns a Covent Garden restaurant that specializes in serving his two favorite delicacies. The first part of Carluccio's book introduces readers to the pleasures of gleaning wild fungi. And it contains not only a fully illustrated catalog of commonly found mushrooms, but also a""code of conduct"" for would-be collectors. The author does stress, however, that mushroom collecting cannot be learned from this volume alone and he repeatedly warns readers that their cache of fresh-picked fungi should be looked over by an expert before it is eaten. The book's second section,""The Recipes,"" is easier to apply at home. In it, readers will find ways to prepare morels, porcini, portabellos, shiitakes and dozens of other edible fungi in soups, salads, and main dishes. Though the book is beautifully designed with elegant color photographs and useful sidebars, it's recipes like Enoki Bundles wrapped with prosciutto and Morels Stuffed with Foi Gras that will keep gourmet cooks turning back to this volume again and again.