Mushroom Hunting in West Virginia

Just a little show and tell here.  On my way up to Wheeling I stopped in the Monongahela National Forest for some backpacking and general Tom Foolery.  Along the way I found some chantrelle mushrooms that were absolutely huge.  Chantrelles are very common in the backcountry all over.  I find them in Colorado like it's nobody's business.  But this was my first Southern Fried chantrelle finding. 

The best way to cook them is not like other mushrooms, where you cook them on high heat and try to get some good brown color on them.  The water content of chantrelles is simply too high to pull that off without drying the chantrelles partially before doing it.  And even when you do that the flavor of the actual chantrelle is flat and the texture is rubbery.  Weak sauce.  Instead, just cut them into a few pieces and sweat them (low heat in a frying pan) in lots of butter.  When you do, the juices leak out and it simmers gently.  Season with salt and eat almost like a simple mushroom soup.  It's actually pretty dang good. 

Anyway, check out these giants.  My hand smelled like them for 3 hours after just touching one for 15 seconds.  Yeah I brought my video camera.  Always looking for that frickin' sasquatch.  Can't seem to get health or cooking videos to go viral...