Porcini

Know this

A porcini has a sponge under the cap, not gills, and that is how you know it from the lookalikes. Fresh, buy them firm and heavy with the pores white to pale yellow; once the sponge goes green and soft the mushroom is days past its best. Check the base of the stem for pinholes, because the worms get there first. Never wash them, brush them, and use the stem too, it is the meatiest part. Chef secret: the soaking water from dried porcini is the sauce. Soak them twenty minutes in warm water, lift them out, and pour the liquid through a coffee filter to lose the grit. That cup of brown liquid is worth more than the mushrooms.

Cook

Fresh, sliced thick and seared in butter with thyme until the edges brown, then onto polenta or into a risotto at the end. Dried, into any braise, stock or gravy that needs to taste like it took longer than it did. A handful in beef stew is the oldest trick in the book because it works.

Season

Fresh ones show up September into November, from the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies or flown in from Italy, and the window is short. Dried ones are always there, which is the point.

Best pairings

Butter · Parmesan · Thyme · Garlic · Cream · Polenta

Also worth trying: risotto, egg, beef, parsley, pancetta, chestnut.

Recommended wine