On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 23:12:47 -0600, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:

>In article .net>,
>"Gregory Morrow" > wrote:
>
>> Melba's Jammin; wrote:
>>
>> > Last week I cut up a boneless chuck roast and pressure cooked it
>> > for stew and. The 'and' went into the soup kettle tonight. I
>> > cooked a few handsful of barley, rehydrated a package of dried
>> > Slovak mushrooms,
>>
>> What kind of mushrooms are they? Did you get them when you went over
>> there?
>
>Dunno, Greg. :-( AFAIK, my folks there don't refer to them with a
>botanical name. There's a kind that's called sosnyak--the one that
>grows under the pine trees. They're from the very NE part of Slovakia.
>The kind I picked as a kid here were, I believe, boletus, though my mom
>never knew them by that name. She knew them as "these are the good
>ones." 8*0) I have some dried mushrooms that are about 10 years old
>in the cupboard. When The Cousins came three years ago, Cousin Michal
>brought a big sack of dried mushrooms -- he'd spent the spring and
>summer gathering and drying them for his American cousins -- they're
>more precious than gold because of it. Considering that they're mostly
>water, his was truly a labor of love for a bunch of people he'd not yet
>met. I decided it's time to start using these things. When I make them
>with kraut juice for Christmas, I use some fresh button mushrooms, too.
>It works.

You can also "flesh them out" with any number of dried mushrooms from
any decent Oriental grocery Barb.. They are all quite inexpensive and
very tasty.

Harry
>>
>> I too am diggin' winter food. I just made some chicken stock and now
>> will start on the cranberry - dried cherry conserve for Thanksgiving.
>> Bought a crockpot at Linens 'n Things today, too....
>
>Could you post the recipe, please, if it's not inconvenient? It sounds
>really tasty. I made a cherry-plum conserve that is really good -- I've
>a dozen small jars to give to my Church Women in Exile group, along with
>a pound of frozen ground pork and a small jar of Penzeys Breakfast
>Sausage Seasoning in each gift bag.
>
>Give that crockpot a test with spiced cider -- that's all it's good for,
>IMNSHO. <8^0)