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Wild Cultivated Mushrooms are wild and wonderful delights! Kinoko—the Japanese word for mushroom, means “children of the woods.”
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Guests gather for Wine Tasting
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Henry Eshelman, of
Platform Media Group and
Erica Cohen partner of
The One Group Restaurants, which includes the hip and fabulous
STK restaurant (which is one of my favorite places) invited a gathering of guests, lucky to be “children of the woods” ourselves to
One Sunset, 8730 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood as we prepared to dine on a sumptuous meal.
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Henry Eshelman, Tara de Lis, Rachel Glass discuss wild mushrooms
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Jason Marcus, the talented Executive Chef of One Sunset, produced a delicious tasting of scrumptious gourmet organic mushroom recipes that he created just for this occasion.
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Executive Chef Jason Marcus shares a recipe
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Set up for Vietnamese-style lettuce wrap
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Menu
Vietnamese-style lettuce wrap with mushroom-corn-pine nuts.
Escebeche of mushrooms, rioja-poached egg, and aged manchego.
New style sushi roll:’ kobe beef, tuna, beech mushroom with yuzu-soy-truffle.
Paquete of king trumpets chorizo-shellfish-sherry-salsa verde.
Roast maitake ‘forest presentation’ confit of chicken foie gras and local honey.
Crispy brie buttered king trumpet marmalade.
Featured Wines
2007 Pink Lady of Malibu Rosé of Syrah
2006 Torbreck Woodcutter’s Shiraz
2006 L’Aventure Roussane
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Henry tells a story about Pink Lady Wine
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The dinner was exquisite. Jason Marcus and his crew allowed us to help in some preparation as they served the first three dishes. One favorite was the New Style Sushi Roll sprinkled with scallions and crushed wasabi peas mixed with black sesame seeds. Each dish was unique with lovely textures and bold robust flavors, filled with dense richness. In the Paquete of king trumpets with the shellfish, we all thought we were eating a sweet bay scallop, when in fact we were eating a chunk of the king trumpet mushroom.
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Paquete of King Trumpets Chorizo and Shellfish
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Exemplary waiter John Harding pours wine for Karin Baker
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We paired each mushroom dish with the three wines which included the Pink Lady Rose’, and the L'Aventure Roussane for the white. My favored choice was the 2006 Torbreck Woodcutter’s Shiraz, with woodsy tones and rich berry flavors.
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Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps
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Sous Chef Jason Ryczek serves Mushroom Lettuce Wrap
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Wild Cultivated Mushrooms taste BETTER than ordinary mushrooms and they are good for you. What is it that makes mushrooms taste the way they do? Cultivated wild mushrooms provide umami—the elusive fifth taste sensation that’s rich, robust and satisfying. Versatile in cooking whether grilled, steamed, stir-fried or baked, wild cultivated mushrooms complement recipes of all ethnic cuisines.
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More Wild Mushrooms
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Hokto/Golden Gourmet Mushrooms
are out to change American’s mushroom eating habits. They believe America deserves better mushrooms, and Japan’s Hokto Kinoko, through its US partner Golden Gourmet Mushrooms, is going to give it to them: a US-grown, certified organic selection of wild cultivated mushrooms in four varieties: Maitake; King Trumpet; Brown Beech and White Beech. With a fall opening of a state-of-the-art US growing facility, the partnership aims to offer consumers a high quality, flavorful, nutritious alternative to “garden variety” mushrooms.
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Escebeche of Mushrooms
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Clinical studies and anecdotal evidence together make the case that wild cultivated mushrooms are healthful, are high in Vitamin D and antioxidants and may even help fight disease. Mushrooms are healthful disease fighters. According to
Dr. Elizabeth A. Sloan, “Without a doubt, the nutritional/health promotion and disease prevention markets represent the largest untapped opportunity for mushrooms of all kinds.”
Dr. Maishong Ni calls mushrooms like maitake “the ultimate longevity food” in his book Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to be 100.
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Jason Marcus serves New Age Sushi
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Wild cultivated Mushrooms are superfoods. Just like humans, mushrooms can make their own Vitamin D. They are a good source of B vitamins and are rich in antioxidants, which help prevent arteriosclerosis and cell damage. Maitake mushrooms are rich in B-glucans, which stimulate the immune system, and eating maitakes can also speed recovery from skin damage. They are even reputed to help alleviate constipation. Wild cultivated mushrooms can combat disease.
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Trying a dish
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Cultivated wild mushrooms provide a unique flavor that satisfies both home cooks and gourmet chefs alike. From their original domain in Asian cooking, wild cultivated mushrooms complement recipes of all cuisines--whether grilled, steamed, stir-fried or baked.
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Steve Farrar tells us about Wild Mushrooms
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One reason for mushrooms’ unique flavor is…their flavor. That flavor, identified and named in 1907 by Professor
Kikunae Ikeda of
Tokyo Imperial University, is umami. The elusive umami is a fifth taste sensation--after sweet, sour, salty and bitter—and it provides a meaty, savory, and satiating sensation that helps round out and/or enhance the flavor of foods. It makes foods taste heartier.
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Executive Chefs Jason Marcus and Todd Mark Miller
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Umami is a hot trend among hot chefs, many of who have added cultivated wild mushrooms to their menus.
Todd Mark Miller at
STK replaced button mushrooms with cultivated wild mushrooms in his sautéed mushroom side for steaks. Chef Monique King at restaurant Nine-Thirty at the W in Los Angeles serves a mushroom tart on a polenta cake. Chef
Gene Kato of
Japonais in New York makes a steamed maitake and sea bass appetizer with bamboo shoots.
GGM has a number of recipe suggestions ranging from the simple to the complex, from home to restaurant chefs.
www.goldengourmetmushrooms.com
www.platformgrp.com/
www.theonerestaurants.com
All Photos © by Judith Orr
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