Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Beefsteak Fungus along with all the Beefsteak Fungus containing recipes presented on this site, with 2 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Beefsteak Fungus as a major wild food ingredient.

The Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica (also known as the Ox Tongue Fungus) is a species of agaric bracket fungus (gilled fungi) and is a member of the Fistulinaceae family of the Agaricales (agaricus) order that have pinkish-yellow spore prints. It can be found in Europe, North America and Britain but is, by far, most commonly found in Britain. It is a fairly common species that is typically parasitic on oak trees and sweet chestnuts (but in Australia grows on eucalypts). Typically if fruits initially in August but is most common in October and specimens can be found for several months after. This is quite a large mushroom (it can grow between 20 and 40cm in diameter). The fungus starts out a pinkish-red and looks very much like a tongue (image, top left) as it matures it broadens, becoming a rough semicircle with a rough reddish-brown upper surface. The upper surface is slightly convex and the margins are slightly inflated — typically, there is no visible stem. The fungus' pores are cream to light yellow, with the tubes being separate and moist. The pores themselves both bruise and age a reddish-brown and often exude a blood-red juice, especially if cut. The flesh is very firm, thick and succulent and when cut resembles raw meat (hence the fungus' name). The smell is pleasant and mushroomy (but in no way meat-like) and the taste is mild, but can sometimes tend to be a little sour.

The firm flesh and pleasant flavour makes this an excellent eating fungus. Indeed, it is especially suited to stews and goulashes as it keeps firm even after prolonged cooking and is still sold in French markets for this purpose. The flavour can be somewhat variable though, and though the fungus can be sliced and eaten raw in salads, older specimens (especially if they grow on oak trees) are best boiled in several changes of water as this leaches out the bitter tannic acids that they can absorb from their host trees. After treating in this way beefsteak fungi are excellent for drying and pickling.



The colour, shape and location of this species and its exuding a red juice when cut means that the beefsteak is not similar to any other fungus and cannot readily be confused with anything else.

For other edible mushrooms, see the guide to edible mushrooms

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants