The end of summer is synonymous with mushrooms – and when mushrooms are mentioned in Tuscany, they’re usually talking about porcini. This is a delicious and straightforward way to enjoy these particularly meaty and earthy mushrooms – simply cut into thick slices, dusted with flour and thrown into a pan of bubbling oil.
Nineteenth-century gastronome Pellegrino Artusi has a recipe for funghi fritti among his 790 recipes in Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891). It doesn’t include any measurements but offers good advice on how to choose and prepare the best mushrooms for frying. Medium-sized porcini are best, he says, as large ones will be too soft and spongy, while small ones too hard. Cut the stalks where they touch the earth and wash them whole, quickly – but do not soak them or you’ll lose part of their unique aroma. His fat of choice for frying mushrooms is olive oil and he thinks dipping the mushrooms in egg is ‘superfluous’ – here I disagree, as I am rather partial to the light, crisp, bubbly coating that the egg adds. If you want to keep these simple, omit the egg and simply dust the mushrooms in flour, Artusi’s way.