[Dolly]

OK I admit I've just back from Italy and in love with all things Italian (again)
How/where do you get porcini out of season that aren't dried ?
I had a gorgeous orrechiette with porcini and gorgonzola last week/week before. The porcini definitely weren't dried as they were far too plump and juicy.
Can you get them in oil or summat ?

[Sloper]

Mushrooms in oil tend to be a risky proposition and very expensive to boot.
A good greengrocer should be able to source wild mushrooms out of season, but as ever at a price.  Quite simply the best thing to do is wait another month or so and go out and pick them.

[Joepicalli]

Yes you can get them in oil but you can't cook with them. The ones you had in Italy almost certainly will have been dried penny bun (English name for them), as their season is mid-summer to late autumn. Thing is if you cut your fresh ceps quite wide before drying, when you re-hydrate them they are really quite plump and fresh once cooked.
October before last I made my first fresh cep risotto. I couldn't believe a: how different it was using fresh (much milder flavour) b: how expensive, £14 for enough to make a risotto's worth for one (admittedly a lardy, ravenous, gourmandizing one, with a very good bottle of Barolo).

[Sloper]

Joe, there are plenty of places to combine a good basket of wild mushrooms with a few problems.

Anyway £14 who were you buying from? My old green  grocer used to do wild mushrooms for £12 kg (ok I had to pick of the good ones and leave the rest )

[Joepicalli]

Joe, there are plenty of places to combine a good basket of wild mushrooms with a few problems.

Anyway £14 who were you buying from? My old green  grocer used to do wild mushrooms for £12 kg (ok I had to pick of the good ones and leave the rest )

This was the centre of Nice Oct before last and like I said in the post I was seriously hungry. I bought just under a kilo of ceps, so £14 'aint bad especially in France. I know that The peak, in season, is full of great spots for ceps and Britain in general is full of under picked 'shrooms (e.g. Took delivery of 1.5k of Chicken of the woods yesterday, only to find it was just a tad old and had to bin it; fortunately it was free).

[SA Chris]

There's normally loads around the forests up here throughout the year, due to it being a bit damper and wetter, but this hear has been very dry so far; Ullapool had an inch of rain in May (unfortunaltely Aberdeen more at the moment!).

I am having a go at growing my own (not Porcini), will post results.

[Bonjoy]

You are highly unlikely to come across any this early in the season in England. In shops you rarely see them fresh in the UK even in season. Personally I prefer them dried/rehydrated to fresh, I think they have a bit more bite and a richer flavour. Beware when buying dried ones, the quality varies a lot. In a good year I find enough to get dried stocks for the year.