Stegte Champignoner i Smør

October brings the game. Venison, duck, pheasant, the dark meats that suit the shorter days. And beside every piece of game on every Danish table, there are mushrooms fried in butter. Stegte champignoner are the side dish that nobody writes down because everybody already knows how to make them. Except that most people don't, not quite. They stir too soon, crowd the pan, and end up with something pale and soft where there should be something golden and concentrated.

The technique is simple but it asks for nerve. You get the pan very hot, lay the mushrooms in a single layer, and then you leave them alone. Three or four minutes of doing nothing. That patience is the whole recipe. The mushrooms release their water, the water cooks off, and only then does the browning begin. Once that colour comes, it happens fast, and you'll smell it before you see it: butter going nutty, mushroom edges turning sweet and almost caramelised.

I want you to pay attention to two things. First, the size of your pan. If the mushrooms are touching and overlapping, they steam. You need space between them, and if that means cooking in two batches, do it. Second, the butter at the end. When you tip the mushrooms onto the serving dish, pour every drop of browned butter from the pan over them. That butter carried the heat that did the work. It tastes of everything that happened. Don't leave it behind.