Fresh or Salted Mushrooms

Translation of a 16th century Italian Recipe.

From Christoforo di Messisbugo, Banchetti composizioni di vivande e apparecchio generale (Lucio Spineda, Venice, 1610)

p104v/r Fonghi freschi, e salati, a varii modi. (Fresh and salted mushrooms, in various ways.)

Take your fresh mushrooms, and cut them into four, if they are large, and put them to boil in water with a morsel of bread, and garlic to get out the poison¹, then draining the water off well, and put them in a vessel with a little good oil, and salt, and [...]², and mint well ground, and fry them gently, then take water, and verjuice which has some vinegar, and put them in the said mushrooms, so that it seems clear, and thick, then make them boil well for half and hour, and then put in pepper, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and saffron, so that it will seem well, and a little honey, and sugar, so that it will be a little tender, and make this dressing when it is boiled, and stood well.

Another way, you will take them whole and put them to cook with oil, pepper, and salt.

Another way, you will make them cook with a saucepan with lard, salt, and pepper, and garlic ground finely with knives.

Another way, when you have made them boil, and when you have purged them, fry them with the saucepan, with oranges, pepper, and salt over.

Another way, take them floured, and fry, and putt hem in a saucepan with garlic, and [...]² ground fine with knives, and good oil, and verjuice, or orange juice, and pepper, and fry them all together with salt, they will be good, and if you would cook salted mushrooms, make them stand quarter of an hour in tepid water, and serve them this final way. Except do not put in salt.

1 I wonder if this is where our habit of cooking mushrooms with garlic comes from? I would assume then that this is something you would do for all of the mushroom recipes, even though he doesn't mention garlic for all of them.

2 The term is "prasomeli", which also crops up in Messisbugo's recipe for a green frittata, and his recipe for lettuce soup, where I've previously translated the term as leeks. I haven't been able to find the term in Florio, or modern equivalents.