Chef Juliette
Carottes Glacées pour Garnitures
Carottes Glacées prove that a garnish can teach a whole sauce lesson: carrots cook in butter, sugar, salt, and water until their own liquor reduces to a brilliant, clinging coat.
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Morels (Morilles)
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2080, Morels (Morilles), from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Morilles étuvées turn one careful wash and twelve gentle minutes into a spring side dish of tender honeycombed caps, bright lemon, and butter gloss, with every drop of woodland liquor reduced back around them.
Side Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
20 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 servings
Morilles étuvées teach the cleanest lesson in mushroom cookery: the liquid a mushroom releases is not waste, it is the beginning of its sauce. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is simple. Wash the morels. Their alveolate, honeycombed caps are little rooms for sand, and no dry brush can search every one.
The classical entry assumed a saucier on staff and an accompanying sauce waiting on another burner to receive the mushroom juices. At home, one wide lidded pan does both jobs. One pound serves four, and its cooking liquor is reduced in the same pan until butter, lemon, and woodland juices cling to every cap. The separate saucepot was brigade scaffolding and can go. Careful washing, the full étuvage, and the reduction of every drop are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
When the morilles are right, they are tender but still themselves, darkly fragrant and lacquered with a clear butter-gold glaze. Before the pan, open every honeycombed cap under cold water and keep washing until the bowl holds no sand. That cleaning is the step that matters most.
Morilles belong especially to the spring tables of the Jura and Franche-Comté, where woodland harvests appear beside poultry, veal, and eggs. From regional kitchens they passed into the classical repertoire as a prized garnish, with their concentrated cooking liquor folded back into the sauce rather than discarded. Cooks have argued for generations about washing them, but careful rinsing answers the practical truth of the mushroom: its honeycombed cap traps sand remarkably well.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh morels
Quantity
About 8 cups loosely packed (1 lb / 454 g)
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup / 57 g)
medium lemon
Quantity
1, yielding about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) juice
juiced
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 generous pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.4 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1 generous pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.15 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh morels | About 8 cups loosely packed (1 lb / 454 g) |
| unsalted butter | 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup / 57 g) |
| medium lemonjuiced | 1, yielding about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) juice |
| fine sea salt | 1 generous pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.4 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1 generous pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.15 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch (30 cm) sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
- •2 large bowls for washing
- •Colander and clean kitchen towel
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Wash Every Hollow
Trim away only the visibly gritty ends of the stems. Fill a large bowl with cold water and wash the morels a few at a time, gently opening their alveolate pockets with your fingertips so trapped sand can escape. Swish them briefly, then lift them into a second bowl rather than pouring everything through a colander, which only returns the grit to the mushrooms. Change the water and repeat until no sand remains on the bottom.
Keep each washing brief so the morels do not sit soaking, but do not confuse dryness with virtue. A clean mushroom tastes better than a sandy one, whatever the connoisseurs mutter. - 2
Drain and Size
Shake the water from each morel, then drain them stem-side down in a colander. Spread them over a clean towel for 10 minutes and blot gently. Leave small morels whole; halve large ones lengthwise, or quarter the very largest. Proper draining keeps rinse water from diluting the lemon and needlessly lengthening the final reduction.
- 3
Begin the Étuvage
Put the drained morels into a cold 12-inch (30 cm) lidded sauté pan with the butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Set the pan over medium heat, turning the mushrooms gently as the butter melts, then cover. The lemon and the morels' own moisture will form the cooking liquor. Bring it to a definite boil without browning the mushrooms; this is étuvage, gentle stewing in their own juices, not frying.
- 4
Stew Them Gently
Once the liquor boils, lower the heat until it maintains a gentle simmer. Cover and stew the morels for 10 to 12 minutes, turning them once or twice without crushing the caps. They are ready when they have darkened, softened, and smell rounded rather than raw. Do not shorten this cooking: morels must be thoroughly cooked before serving.
- 5
Reduce Every Drop
Lift the morels into a warm bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving every drop of their liquor in the pan. Boil the liquid uncovered over medium-high heat until its bubbles grow slower and larger and the butter-gold reduction lightly coats a spoon, usually 2 to 5 minutes. If it reduces into an oily film, remove the pan from the heat and swirl in 1 teaspoon of cold water until it gathers again. Ça se rattrape. If it remains watery, keep reducing; flour and cream do not belong in this preparation.
- 6
Glaze and Serve
Return the morilles to the pan and turn them through the reduction over gentle heat for 30 to 60 seconds, just until every honeycombed cap gleams. Transfer them to a warmed serving dish and scrape all the reduced juices over the top. Serve immediately, without an ornamental garnish. The mushrooms have finished their own sauce. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Buy morels from a trusted grocer, fishmonger, or experienced licensed forager. False morels can be dangerous, and a photograph is not enough for safe identification.
- •Fresh morels are spring mushrooms, and this preparation depends on their fresh, resilient texture. Dried morels are splendid in sauces after soaking, but they are not an invisible substitute here.
- •Use a wide pan with a snug lid. The lid helps the mushrooms release their liquor without browning, while the wide base later reduces that liquor quickly enough to preserve their texture.
- •Serve the morilles beside roast chicken, veal, or softly scrambled eggs, where their reduced juices can mingle with the plate. A dry white from the Jura is a particularly happy glass.
Advance Preparation
- •The morels can be washed, drained, and cut up to 4 hours before cooking. Spread them on a towel-lined tray, cover loosely, and keep them cold so they remain dry rather than sitting in trapped moisture.
- •For a dinner party, complete the covered 10 to 12 minute stew up to 20 minutes before serving and leave the morels in their liquor off the heat. At the last moment, lift them out, reduce the liquor, and glaze them as directed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 95g)
Calories
145 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
31 mg
Sodium
65 mg
Total Carbohydrates
7 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
4 g
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