It’s morel season which means it’s the season of cooking morels! 

Identifying and preparing morel mushrooms can be an exhilarating experience for any mushroom enthusiast. Known for their distinctive honeycomb-like appearance and gentle nutty, mildly caraway-like flavour, morels are highly prized in culinary circles. Properly identifying them is crucial as they have toxic look-alikes. Properly cooking them is equally as crucial as people have died from eating raw true morels. Here’s a detailed guide on how to identify and clean these delectable fungi, and a handful of great recipes for you to try out. 

Identification

1. Cap and Stem: Morels have a conical or elongated cap with a honeycomb-like texture. The cap is attached to the stem and is completely hollow. The stem is usually lighter in colour compared to the cap, often just white or off-white.

2. Colour and Size: Morels come in various shades ranging from pale cream to golden yellow to dark brown. They typically grow to be 2 to 4 inches tall, but records exist for up to 25 inches! A two-foot tall morel!? Just wild! (Pun intended)

3. Habitat: Morels are often found in wooded areas, especially near elm, oak, ash, and poplar trees. They thrive in moist, shady environments, particularly after a rainfall. You can find an abundance of “burn morels” in certain areas decimated by wildfires from the previous year.

4. Season: Morels are one of the first mushrooms to pop out of the ground in the spring. When trout lilies and trilliums are in bloom, when fiddleheads are unfurling, that’s when morels are also popping up.

5. Look-alikes: True morels do have toxic look-alikes which are commonly referred to as False Morels. The Gyromitra genus have many species, up to two dozen different species, each with its own variable level of the toxin gyromitrin. Some cannot be consumed at all, while others are reportedly edible once cooked. At Think Fungi we generally recommend that people just stick to true morels and avoid Gyromitra species which tend to resemble a strangely folded brain, as opposed to a honeycombed conical cap.

Cleaning

1. Trimming: Start by trimming any dirt or debris from the base of the stem using a small knife or brush. Remove any parts that appear discolored or damaged.

2. Soaking: Some prefer to soak morels in lightly salted water for about 15-20 minutes to remove any hidden insects or debris. However, this step is controversial as it can dilute the flavour. If you choose to soak them, ensure they are thoroughly dried afterward. Personally, I leave them to soak in fresh water for about 2-3 minutes, then I use my faucet ‘shower’ function to rinse them a second time.

3. Inspecting: After soaking (if you choose to do so), carefully inspect each morel to ensure no insects or debris remain lodged in the crevices. Pat them dry with paper towels. Even with a soaking, I find the occasional slug hanging out inside the morel. 

4. Slicing: Depending on your recipe, you may choose to slice the morels lengthwise into halves, widthwise into rings or leave them whole. Slicing allows for better cleaning and ensures any remaining debris is removed, but a whole morel is quite aesthetically pleasing.

5. Final Check: Before cooking, give the morels a final check to ensure they are clean and free of any unwanted particles. Sometimes I conduct an extra rinse once they are cut, but keep in mind they are in a fragile state, especially once cut.

Cooking

Once cleaned, cooking morels can be done in various ways, such as sautéing, frying, grilling or adding them to soups and stews. Their delicate flavour pairs well with butter, garlic, herbs, and cream-based sauces. Remember to cook them thoroughly before consuming to neutralize the toxins that exist. Now, without further ado, here are some recipes that you should try out:

Cooking Morels – Simply on Toast

This recipe is so simple I have a hard time even calling it a recipe. There are no measurements because it’s truly at your heart’s content. 

Grab yourself a pan. Cast iron works well, but if you want to cut down on the fat, use non-stick. Then add butter to the pan. You’ll want to use a bit more butter than you think you need. This is not meant to be a healthy recipe – live a little. The amount you use will truly depend on how many morels you have to cook.

Melt the butter and toss in your morels. I like to use morels that have been sliced lengthwise, but I’ve had equally great experience with widthwise cut rings. Whatever floats your boat, you do you! Let those cook up on medium-high heat. They will release water as they cook, no problem with that. Let that water evaporate. Turn up the heat if going too slow. Once all the water has evaporated, your mushrooms should be gaining some colour, and it will be time to add 1 minced clove of garlic. One clove is enough for a whole pan of morels. You want a bit of garlic flavour, but you don’t want to overwhelm the morels. Salt and pepper the morels at this stage too, and let cook for a minute – this is just to cook up the garlic.

If you want to be bougie, crank up the heat to high, wait 30 seconds for the pan to get hot, and hit it with some white wine or dry vermouth. Just a tablespoon or two. If you’re using cast iron, scrape up any bits off the bottom of the pan. Now turn down the heat to medium-low, and add in some cream. You could add heavy cream and cook it for 1 minute, you could add 10% cream and cook it for 3 minutes. Either way, you’re looking to reduce your cream into a thick creamy sauce. 

Once you have a thick creamy sauce, remove the pan from the heat and – optionally – grate a small amount of parmesan cheese into the mixture and give it a mix. Toast some delicious bread, wonderbread won’t go well with morels, try sourdough or ciabatta. Toast it so it still has some give, but barely. Then top with your morels and cream sauce. You can add some chives and parmesan cheese on top if you have it, and then enjoy! Simple, quick and delicious!

Stuffed Morels, Paul Moran Style

In Think Fungi’s first ever webinar, we had a Culinary masterclass dedicated to mushrooms from some of the best chefs in Canada, including Top Chef Canada winner Paul Moran. Paul showed us a simple recipe that used dried morels, but the recipe is even easier if you have fresh morels! Whether fresh or dry, you have to try stuffed morels! Watch the video here:

Cooking Morels on the Grill

Personally, I’m a fan of almost anything that goes on the grill. I love the taste of a touch of smokey fire on my food – what can I say? It’s no exception for morels. It shouldn’t be a surprise that morels would be good on a grill, just look at portobello burgers! They are practically made for the grill!

However, morels are not portobellos, they tend to be much smaller, which means you risk having them lose moisture and shrink and then fall between your grate, only to be eaten up by the flames. If you decide to grill, try to choose the larger specimens, and be mindful when putting them on the grill, flipping them over, and taking them off the grill.

I keep it relatively simple when I grill my morels. A usually use an aerosol oil for this because I can be very minimal in the amount I use, and I don’t want too much. I then dust them with salt, pepper, and touch of chipotle powder – a good spice for getting more smokiness in your food without the heat. Place them on the grill until they are wilting, and flip them over to finish cooking. It’s that simple!

Now all you have to do is use them! You could eat them just like that, but I really like to use them in various dishes. The other day I used them on an all-beef hotdog alongside grilled onion and a touch of mustard. Nothing else is required. Ketchup would have overpowered the morels. It was so good, so I do recommend elevating your hotdog game, but you can also put them on burgers, or on a salad, or make some rice and stuff a pepper with them. Whatever makes you happy!

Cooking Morels Pizza – ‘Nough Said

Okay, I’ll say a bit more. I made a pizza dough from scratch, because I’m a former chef, and that’s just the way I roll. However, feel free to buy yourself some store-bought pizza dough or even store-bought pizza crust. In fact, if you wanted to be really lazy, you could just buy a cheese pizza and improve upon that.

Be sure to cook up your morels in advance, as 3-10 minutes in the oven (depending on how homemade the pizza) is rarely sufficient to thoroughly cook the morels. Just some oil in the pan, a bit of salt on medium-high heat is sufficient to cook up your morels. Once they are ready to go, put them onto your pizza!

If you are making this homemade, I would opt for a white creamy sauce for the base instead of marinara/tomato sauce. The creaminess goes better with morels than tomato sauce, but if tomato sauce (or a frozen pizza) is all you have, feel free to use it, you just might miss some morel nuance.

I like to add some chives or green onions to the pizza as well, and if you must have meat on a pizza, then bacon goes well on this pizza as well, but use it sparingly, otherwise that’s all you will taste. Or you can double down on the morels for more flavour. I usually just stick to onion and morels and leave the bacon for another meal.

Did you enjoy reading our recipes? Just the other day I ran a recipe Live! from my kitchen. It was just a free livestream that any Think Fungi Community (also free) member could join. Have you joined the community? Check it out right here.

Want other mushroom-related recipes? We have you covered in article form and video form.

Most importantly! If you are unsure how to tell the difference between a yellow morel, a black morel and a false morel, then you really should register for one of our wild mushroom identification courses.

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