Rabbit pie

Local lass · Rabbit pie

made the most fantastic rabbit pie last night.
i put in it

4 rabbits
mushrooms
half bottle red wine
quarter of a bottle of sloe gin
onions
salt and pepper
bay leaves
mixed herbs
and a berry gravy mix

had short crust pastry on the nbottom and puff on top
it was divine :wink:

GTB

And very nice too. :wink:

Have you ever eaten rabbit?

Geddi

I was vegan for about five years, some years ago, and I first gave up eating dairy produce, then farmed meat. For about six months I ate rabbits galore, pigeons, trout and all sorts of things.

Not had any bunnies for ages though now, must be at least 2 years.

I did also get into wild mushrooms, big time, and have picked and eaten about a dozen varieties from around Calne, some of which are no more due to 'development' as some like to call it.

Local lass

i wouldnt know what was good eating mushrooms or not in the wild .knowing my luck they would be magic.
now that would make a good pie :lol:

GTB

To find "magic" mushrooms in the wild takes a good eye because they are very small - not that I would pick any. Like Geddi, I have picked and eaten a good few varieties of wild mushroom over the years from stump puffballs to fairy ring champignons.

Geddi

GTB: I used to eat fairy ring champignon, though they lack any real flavour, jew's ears, shaggy parasols, field and horse mushrooms, shaggy ink caps, wood bluets, field bluets (uncommon and now almost impossible since the field next to Calne football club has been grassed over as a lawn!
Also giant puffballs, 'stump' puffballs, chanterelles, magic mushrooms (very long ago), ceps (from Devon, though there may be some in Bowood)and St George's mushrooms in Cornwall. There are also quite a few other varieties I have tried from shops, sometimes dried.

The best flavoured are field bluets, to my taste, though they are dodgy unless they are cooked well. The best fields I know are off towards Bremhill, although a lot of development has killed off quite a few of these, and some are not coming up every year so are hit and miss to find.

GTB

I thought the fairy ring champignons tasted slightly of almond, until someone said that cyanide tastes them same. :lol:

I have identified Jews Ear but have never eaten it (yet!) and I have made many a bowl of soup from parasols. The best soup made from mushroom, in my honest opinion, is puffball. It has a sublime flavour and as long as you pick a puffball before the middle is turning to spores then you will have plenty of meals out of it.

Have you ever tried Scarlet Elf Cup, Geddi? Some people say it is edible, others (and certainly from the books I have) say it is not. :?

Geddi

GTB: I've not tried scarlet elf cap, nor heard of it until now. It may be I know it under another name?

I know a local bloke (name withheld) who ate a half the cap of a fly agaric once. He survived though he was desperately ill for a week afterwards. Idiot!

Jews ears are edible, though tough, and are one of the easiest of all mushrooms to identify. They tend to grow on ash or elder, locally at least. Boiling them into vegetable soup is best way to get em down yer neck, again they are not eaten for their flavour.

Fairy ring champignons are not almond flavour in my experience, and cyanide is indeed smelling of almonds, though some forms of it are quite healthy in tiny amounts. Almond skins, apple pip skins and bitter almonds all contain amounts of prussic acid, which is what makes the smell. Last time I picked this one, marasmeus oreades (sp) was about 12 years or more ago. I know still that it has very little smell and it is not almonds. I adore the flavour of marzipan and the smell as well, hence I would notice. if you smell almonds and it looks like these, forget it! :)

GTB

According to my fungi book "it should have a pleasant taste and smells faintly of bitter almonds". And according to my book the species most similar to the fairy ring is the Ivory Funnel (clitocybe dealbata) which is classed as extremely poisonous. The Ivory Funnel is sometimes found to be growing in amongst the Fairy Ring Champignon. Just goes to show that picking mushrooms can be a bit of a lottery!!

Scarlet Elf Cup is an easily identifiable fungi which grows on trees and dead wood. Here's a decent enough description: http://forum.rivercottage.net/vie...php?t=21294&highlight=scarlet

Geddi

GTB: I looked up the Red Elf Cup. I think I may have seen some but would not eat them. They look too pretty to eat for a start... and scarlet in fungi tends to be a warning.

If you want to organise a fungi walk later in the year, I would love to come along. I know there will be loads out today as it is warming fast and the ground is very damp.

PM this and arrange with a friend and I will happily walk you to some great places and some excellent mushrooms.

GTB

I recently joined the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and they occasionally do fungi walks around the local area.

www.wiltshirewildlife.org

It's amazing that everywhere you look in woodland areas you can find lots of different fungi.

Geddi

I was a volunteer for WWT (before they changed the name) some 16 years ago. I was not doing fungi walks though. It sometimes takes a spore print and examination to distinguish between species.

No matter, the offer remains.