[Suzanne]

Originally posted by shroomgirl
... Alot of us shroomers claim it as one of our own.

But, why wouldn't you? Aren't mushrooms fungi? So wouldn't another edible fungus be a cousin, at the very least -- even if it doesn't grow quite the same way? (as you can tell, I know very little about this branch of botany; but please teach me. )

[shroomgirl]

going back to KOKO's response of not mentioning shrooms....yep all fungal. The corn farmers brought some huit la coche into sell this year at my proding and many would still not taste it. Pricing it was extremely difficult for them.

[kokopuffs]

Why is it that I haven't heard of these two products in California and Colorado, two states where I've lived?

[Suzanne]

Maybe you don't hang out with the right crowd?

Both are pretty specialized items -- not generally used in everyday cooking, really.

[shroomgirl]

I have a friend that owns a health food store and shared quorn with us last Spring.....<really does taste like chicken adn I have NO clue how they do that......though chicken of the woods has the same taste and texture as chicken....hmmmmm>
Whole Foods was promoting Quorn here....they're a national chain....shot I'm in St. Louis and we get everything 10 years after CA isn't that right?

Huit.....Rick Bayless has cooked with it for a while and is having farmers try to propigate it....I tasted my first 4.5 years ago....I can remember sitting on the floor of my soon to be sweetie's office watching him try to pull up info on how to cook this wonderful exciting Fungus I'd found on a farm....it was difficult to come up with much...seemed like enchiladas or "cook like a mushroom", what does that mean?????
Fio, had a dinner that included huit from a can.....guess it's just not hit it's stride....

[IronChefATL]

I got my first smell of this the other day. The Chef I was working for had taken it out to show his assistants, but we had no time to cook it. This dissapointed me. However the smell was very intreging. It had a garlic type musky smell. I will definetly eat this at the first chance I get.

[cajunjoe]

what ever happened to that hoochie coochie girl?
You know the one that did the coochie coochie on the Tonight Show. I think i saw her on a cell phone commercial last year.

I've made a huitlacoche sauce to accompany an empanada and I've served it alongside corn with a venison loin, quinoa and a cherry-chipotle sauce.

[Harpua]

Where is the vomit emoticon?

[shroomgirl]

well yeah it's gross and slimey when it comes from a can, just like pretty much anything else coming from a can.

[BombayBen]

I use Quorn all the time - we get Quorn suasages, chicken style pieces, etc etc. there are endless 'meat' shaped products made out of Quorn in the supermarkets. We also get vege mince (dalepak I think) which is essentially soya and is also a good substitute for minced meat - I use the vege mince for vege scotch eggs

[deltadoc]

Be careful. Rye smut was consumed in the Dark Ages and caused the infamous "St. Elmo's Fire". It is fungal and produces toxins that cause hallucinations, burning of the extremities, etc.

Inflicted people rushed to the shelter of the religious monks, who ate wheat bread instead of rye bread, and those people that switched to the more expensive wheat bread (via the generosity of the monks and priests) miraculously got better.

A miracle!

doc

[AllanMcPherson]

I came to like huitlacoche during my time in Ottawa. There were a couple of nice Mexican food shops in my area that would carry it. It is potent and heady to smell (some call it "corn truffle" and I can see why) and the texture is, uh, goopy? The taste is while "mushroomy" is also distincly corn, surprisingly sweet. I find a little goes a long way. As others said it works nice as a filling (try crepes, or ravs in addition to those mentioned). I came to like just pureeing it with a strong chicken stock and keeping it in a sqeeze bottle as a plate sauce. Works so nice with lobster, or swirled into a corn chowder.

--Al

[Harpua]

Ok, I think it's time I try this stuff. People say it looks nasty but tastes good. I like corn AND mushrooms.

[Smylietron]

I dunno, this stuff seems right up there with hakarl and casu marzu (chewonthatblog.com/?p=170) to me.

[shroomgirl]

fresh not canned.....like any other mushroom canning them really is dibilitating at best.