WHILE HUNTING Agaricus mushrooms with Chad Hyatt on the Central Coast of California this winter—and getting a crash course in yellow stainers, red stainers, and the “lose your lunch bunch”—it occurred to me that a salty-sweet Korean stew would pair well with a meaty species in the almond-scented group of Agaricus such as A. fissuratus or A. albolutescens.
As it turned out, we only found red stainers like A. brunneofibrillosus (pictured), which ended up in a Spanish pork belly stew, but the thought lingered and, once back home, I decided to make the Korean stew with store-bought enoki mushrooms along with some candy cap syrup from my trip as a sub for maple syrup. A mycophagist could geek out in plenty of other mycelial directions with a flexible dish like this—or skip the fungi altogether if so-inclined.
3-4 lbs chicken thighs
1 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 small yam, peeled & cubed
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled & cubed
1/2 yellow onion, sliced into half moons
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
5 oz enoki, beech, or button mushrooms
4 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
6 oz (dried) glass noodles, pre-cooked
Sauce ingredients:
2-3 tbsp gochujiang
2-3 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
4-5 cloves garlic
1 thumb ginger
1/2 yellow onion, cut up
1/3 cup stock or water
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp maple syrup (or candy cap syrup)
2 green onion
1/2 apple or pear
1/2 jalapeño
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
salt & pepper
1. In an enamel pot, lightly brown 3 to 4 pounds of chicken in 1 tbsp oil.
2. While chicken is browning, combine sauce ingredients blender.
3. Pour sauce into pot along with 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, bring to boil, turn down heat and braise covered 30-40 minutes.
4. Add cubed sweet potato and cook 10 minutes.
5. Add cubed butternut squash, sliced onion, sliced red bell pepper and cook another 10 minutes.
6. Add pre-cooked glass noodles and green onions, stir together, and cook a couple more minutes. Add more stock if necessary.
Serves 6 with rice.