2963

Well American Cheese is not cheddar.

2964

Amen. It is very melty though, so I’m with the “what the hell did they do with that thing?” club.

2965

I think there’s a version of that cheesesteak pizza that could be very good, but it’s not that one.

2966

A local pizza shop near me makes a great cheesesteak pizza. If you say no mushrooms. The fuck is it with mushrooms on cheesesteaks? Have they no shame?

2967

So, here’s a thing I’ve been noticing among my more well-to-do (read: stayed Metro, didn’t move out to Bumfuck, MD like I did) friends:

They are constructing their own outdoor pizza ovens. Like building a huge stone structure with a cavity for pizza and another to pack full of shit to get their ovens up to 450, 500 degrees. Then they make a dough from hand, and add shit and bake.

While cool, I can think of better things to spend money on.

2968

If I had that kind of money I’d build one of those ovens before I’d invest in a jpeg of a space ship. :)

2969

I did what now?

2970

Fried onions and mushrooms are good on a steak.
Also, a Cheesesteak pizza is a thing which absolutely exists and can be good, but it does not look like that abomination.
This is the way.

2971

I’m talking about Star Citizen! :) The game scam by Chris Roberts. Not you.

2972

Timex. My friend. May I call you my friend? Probably not. :) Cooked mushrooms are little balls of rubbery dirt. Although I often use rehydrated mushrooms.

2973

My wife tells me that fresh mushrooms are the way to go with pizza or anything else. Canned mushrooms have the telltale slimy look.

Personally, I think mushrooms can fuck off right into the dirt flavored hole they taste like. That said, I will tolerate mushrooms if we’re having sausage gravy & biscuits and she dices them up enough.

2974

This is the way. Never change. Walk the path.

2975

Can we accept that some people find mushrooms delicious, often on pizzas and cheese steaks? Or are you just thinking this is some kind of fact rather than an opinion? :)

2976

So, true story.

I hated mushrooms. On pizza, on burgers, whatever it didn’t matter. Even fresh mushrooms from the store sucked. But my wife and kids love them.

So then I moved out to the PNW and mushrooms are kind of a thing here. There are all kinds of local mushrooms you can get too. You find them all over the forests, or even in the landscaping.

Well I figured I’d learn how to forage the good ones. I love being outdoors and like for any excuse to get out. And picking fresh mushrooms is a good way to combine something I love (being in the woods) with something my kids would get excited about (picking all the cool mushrooms).

As it turns out, I don’t actually hate mushrooms. Instead I hate agaricus mushrooms. Now agaricus are what people think of as mushrooms. Those white buttons, the slimy grey canned, basically any fresh, frozen, or canned mushroom you get at the grocery store is some variety of agaricus. And I hate those.

But, man, there is so much more to mushrooms. There is the big time local, golden chanterelle. There is the king bolete, also known as porcini. There are my personal favorite, oyster mushrooms. There are the huge lobster mushrooms, vivid coral, the fuzzy honey mushroom, and many more.

Each has a different flavor, and use. Throw some lobster mushrooms into a tuna casserole to class it up a bit. Sauté some honeys to put in a steak or burger. Corals are a great soup addition. Oysters? They’re my favorite, with a slightly nutty meaty taste.

And the chanterelle? This is an incredible hornet mushroom. Great texture, usable in so many dishes. It pulls apart like string cheese, has a nice substantial meaty taste, and there is a reason they go for over $20/lb fresh.

So the thing I did simply as an excuse to do something with my family, became something I enjoyed.

I still loathe canned mushrooms, slimy pieces of evil.

image
image1512×2016 1.12 MB

2977

I stopped at a local pizza place today that I’d not tried before, got a mushroom pizza, and it was delicious. I did not ask what kind of mushrooms they were, but whatever they were, it was done right.

2978

I’m not a fan of button mushrooms, but boy do I love some of the other kinds. Especially wood ear mushrooms and hen-of-the-woods. Mmmmm.

2979

Not gonna lie, the texture and consistency has kept me from collecting the wood ear, or any jelly mushroom really.

2980

Not gonna lie, that picture looks awesome.

People in these here parts go Morel hunting, but I’ve never tried them. I’m not sure what else we have in our slice of Appalachia. Chicken of the woods, which I’ve had at a local farm-to-table restaurant and they weren’t bad at all. So I guess you’re right, I don’t hate “all” mushrooms, just the ones that most people think of when someone says “mushrooms”.

2981

Mushroom texture makes me gag.
The flavor is mostly fine and if diced up enough in a stew or the like they’re okay, but otherwise… just no.

2982

I’ve loved mushrooms ever since that season 1 episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown taught me how to sautee them. That basically mushrooms take on the flavor of whatever you cook them in. So it’s best to sautee them after you’re done frying something else, and the oil and flavory remnants are still in the frying pan/wok. So depending on what I cook first, the tastes of the mushrooms changes too.