Mushrooms were a food people could forage for as long as they knew which ones were safe to eat. The flavor helped give variety to their meals. 

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

PICKLED MUSHROOMS
Take the small round mushrooms that are pale pink underneath, with white tops, and peel them. Put them in a jar with a little mace, white mustard seed, and salt. Cover them with cold vinegar and tie them close. If you put in black pepper or cloves, it will turn them dark.

MUSHROOM SAUCE
Wash and pick one pint young mushrooms and rub them with salt to take off the tender skin. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt, nutmeg, one blade of mace, one pint cream, and a lump of butter rubbed in flour. Boil them up and stir till done, then pour it round cooked chickens. Garnish with lemon.

MUSHROOM SAUCE No. 2
Gather fine-grown fresh mushrooms. Break them up and sprinkle salt over them. Let them lie for the juice to run out, stirring them often. When the juice has been extracted, strain it, and boil well with a little ginger and pepper.

Do not season much, as it is the mushroom flavor that is desired. You can add seasoning as required, but all that is necessary to keep it is some salt and pepper.

BROILED MUSHROOMS
Cleanse large mushrooms by wiping with flannel and a little salt. Cut off the stalks and peel the tops. Broil them over a clear fire, turning them once. Arrange on a hot dish, put a small piece of butter on each mushroom, season with pepper and salt, and squeeze over them a little lemon juice. Place before the fire, and when the butter is melted, serve quickly.

BROILED MUSHROOMS No. 2
Take the largest and finest fresh mushrooms. Peel them and cut off the stems as closely as possible. Lay the mushrooms on their backs upon a large flat dish. Into the hollow or cup of each, put a piece of fresh butter, and season it with a little black pepper. Set a clean gridiron over a bed of clear hot coals and when it is well heated, put on the mushrooms and broil them thoroughly. The gridiron should be one with grooved bars, so as to retain the gravy. When the first gridiron full of mushrooms is well broiled, put them with their liquor into a hot dish, and keep them closely covered while the rest are broiling. This is an excellent way of cooking mushrooms.

DEVILED MUSHROOMS
Mix one teaspoon mustard, a few grains cayenne, one teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce, and a half teaspoon paprika. Cover broiled mushrooms with this mixture and serve on slices of toast.

RAGOUT OF MUSHROOMS
Wash half a pound of fine, fresh mushrooms, skin, remove the stems, and cut them into dice. Put the stems and skins in water to cover, and stew them for twenty minutes. Strain and put the mushrooms into this broth with a generous tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of finely chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper and cook until tender. When done, add two well-beaten yolks of eggs, stir briskly and remove at once from the fire. Pour onto a platter, sprinkle with a little very finely minced parsley, and serve very hot.

STEWED MUSHROOMS
Choose button mushrooms of uniform size. Wipe clean and white with a wet flannel cloth, and cut off the stalks. Put into a porcelain saucepan, cover with cold water, and stew very gently fifteen minutes. Salt to taste, and add a tablespoon of butter, divided into bits and rolled in flour. Boil three or four minutes. Next, mix in three or four tablespoons of cream whipped up with an egg, stir two minutes without letting it boil, and serve.

BAKED MUSHROOMS
Wash and scrub twelve large, fresh mushrooms and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove the stems, sauté in butter, add one cup chicken stock or cream, and simmer fifteen minutes. Place on rounds of bread on a buttered platter. Cover and cook in the oven fifteen minutes, basting once during cooking with melted butter. A few gratings of nutmeg is considered by many an improvement.

ESSENCE OF MUSHROOMS
This delicate relish is made by sprinkling a little salt over some mushrooms and mashing them three hours after. Next day, strain off the liquor, put it into a stew-pan and boil it till reduced one half. It will not keep long, but is preferable to any of the ketchups. An artificial bed of mushrooms would supply this article all the year round.

MUSHROOM SOUP
Cut a knuckle of veal* or a neck of mutton into large pieces and remove the bones. Put it into a soup-pot with sufficient water to cover the whole, and season with a little salt and cayenne. Let it boil till the meat is in rags, skimming it well. Then strain off the soup into another pot.

Have ready a quart of freshly-gathered mushrooms. Cut them into quarters, having removed the stalks. Put them into the soup, adding one-fourth pound of fresh butter, divided into bits and rolled in flour. Boil the whole about half an hour longer. Try if the mushrooms are tender and do not take them up till they are perfectly so. Keep the pot lid closely covered except when you remove the lid to try the mushrooms. Lay at the bottom of the tureen a large slice of buttered toast, (cut into small squares,) and pour the soup upon it. This is a company soup.

*knuckle of veal – the lower part of a leg of veal.

CREAMED MUSHROOMS
To one pound of cleaned and well strained mushrooms, add one-fourth pound of fresh butter. Allow the mushrooms to cook in butter about five minutes. Sprinkle with enough flour to thicken. When well mixed, pour in gently a little more than one-half pint of sweet cream. Allow it to boil and add salt and pepper to taste.

MUSHROOM AND POTATO CROQUETTES
Take one pound of fresh mushrooms, rinse, and break in small pieces. Drop into three tablespoons of hot butter, dust with half a teaspoon of salt, and a trifle of pepper. Cover and steam slowly for ten minutes. Add them to three cups of seasoned mashed potato, beat in two eggs, and a tablespoon of chopped parsley. Form into cones, dip in egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry in hot fat.

FRIED MUSHROOMS
Pare the mushrooms, cut off their stems, and lay them on their heads in a frying pan in which a tablespoon of butter has been melted. Put a bit of butter into each cap, let them cook in their own liquor and the butter until thoroughly done. Season with salt and butter and serve hot.

TO DRY MUSHROOMS
Wipe them clean, take away the brown part, and peel off the skin. Lay them on sheets of paper to dry in a cool oven, when they will shrivel considerably. Keep them in paper bags and hang in a dry place. When wanted for use, put them into cold gravy, bring them gradually to simmer, and it will be found that they will regain nearly their usual size.

Image from Deposit Photos

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Are You a Fan of Mushrooms? How Do You Like Them Prepared?

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