Puffball Jerky

 

It's not often that I will get distracted on my run but the sight of what turned out to be around twenty pristine Giant Puffball mushrooms (Calvatia gigantea) did just this the other week.

They were all of a harvestable size with the biggest being football dimensions. Upon closer inspection of the site I also discovered some excellent looking Parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera) too.

I am really not a fan of mushrooms (since forever) but the exceptions to this are that I  occasionally like making this bushcraft confectionary and I tried some spicy Beefsteak Fungus Jerky on this Roger Phillips mushroom foray and with the latter in mind I decided to take a small portion of one on a forthcoming camp to see if I could replicate it.

Whilst the cast iron caveat is always make sure that your identification is 100% correct the Puffball is as bombproof as IDs go when they get to a decent size as they have no stalk, cut with a 'squeak' and look rather like a slice of Mozzerella.

 

Despite not liking mushrooms I did pan-fry my wife and I a bit in seasoned butter and despite the mild taste it still didn't do anything for me. My wife thought it was OK but found the texture a bit too foamy for her liking which stands to reason as almost all the cooking suggestions I've seen suggest a strong partner (like pesto) or well seasoned breadcrumbs.

 

I sliced my bit as thinly as possible (as you do with jerky) and left it out on kitchen roll to dry overnight which it did rather noticeably. I wouldn't be surprised if a bit of dried Puffball wouldn't make a decent strop if fixed to a board, much like Birch Polypore (Fomitopsis betulina).

 

With the need for strong flavours in mind I prepared my favourite beef jerky marinade which is soy sauce, fresh grated ginger, garlic, five spice and dried chilli.

As I'd prepared it the night before heading for camp I simply left it in the fridge overnight to re-hydrate and took it away in a tied plastic bag.

I opted for a simple setup which involved a Hazel tripod placed over a collapsible Honey stove into which I placed some embers topped up occasionally with fresh Cherry branches and soaked Oak chips. Typically the moment I got it underway with the drying and smoking I had issues with an annoying breeze.

Now meat jerky is fairly robust and you can pretty much leave it to it's own devices but I wasn't sure what to expect with this 'shroomy experiment so I made sure that I was back and forth. 

To be honest it was just OK, it had a rather fragile texture and although some of the flavour had been absorbed it felt like a lot of the sesoning was crusted on the outside. Certainly not unpleasant but I won't rush back to it as a jerky or mushroom but hey, you've got to try these things.

Interestingly when I did my run two days later I noticed the bigger ones had gone and the rest had been kicked in.

Twice Cooked Chips On Camp

 Last year my youngest asked at the last minute if he could come on a camp with me, initially l was against it as l had lots planned but ultimately decided that a slightly more glampy agenda would mean he got a few days of fresh air.

One of the showpiece things we did were some twice-cooked chips in a Dutch oven, the results can be seen above. I used to think it was a pretentious thing to make chips sound better on a menu but it is actually a viable cooking method, and here's how you do it over a fire and indeed at home.

Freshly prepare your chips just as you need them which will prevent them going brown. I personally prefer a nice chunky chip that will withstand the rigours of the cooking procedures.

You need to half fill a Dutch oven with Sunflower oil (or similar) and then bank up some established embers about a quarter of the way up the side of the Dutchie.

Use a potato offcut or runty chip to test to see if the oil is hot enough. I popped mine on a de-barked piece of Hazel and you can see that the oil is bubbling vigourously around it which means it is hot enough.

Never drop the chipped potatoes in, place them to prevent oil splashing up and don't be tempted to place large amounts in in one go as it will bring the temperature of the oil down markedly.

After around four or five minutes you can pull the now cooked potato pieces out and dab them with kitchen roll. You should be able to slide the point of a sharp knife in easily. Note the difference between the cooked pieces on the left and the as yet uncooked ones on the right.

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Once you have done the first fry on all your chips it's time to ramp the heat up.  Go for closer to half way up the Dutchie with coals and maybe even place a few on the lid too. This won't take long. It is worth mentioning that as you are heating oil you should take great care generally but also stay with the Dutch oven due to the risk of the oil catching light.

You can place the lid partially or fully on and as the chips are pre-cooked this second round of frying is as much to do with how the chips look visually as it is with timings. They can brown really quickly or take 8-10 minutes...It depends on several variables such as the heat of the oil etc.

Again you can see the difference between the once and twice-cooked chips. Note the improvised chopsticks on the right which I used to pull the chips out of the oil.

 

And the finished results. One shot is an improvised Birch bark cone with a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper/ Alexanders seed and vinegar, the other is with a pimped up supermarket Shashlick curry for a satisfying camp tea.