Why chefs are cultivating mushrooms

There’s a hidden, humid yet well aired space above the kitchens of Fallow in London’s St James’s, Mayfair. It is kept strictly at 18°C with a constantly controlled humidity. Only a precious few people have seen inside. Head Chef Will Murray drops a metal loft ladder down in a tight space behind the dessert section and beckons me up to his “mushroom tree house”. There’s row upon row of grow bags full of a white substrate. Those of us who concentrated in biology lessons will know this is mycelium which is growing in used coffee grounds (no waste is key to Fallow’s conscious eating ethos). “These mushrooms are a week away from fruiting,” explains Murray, though we spot a couple of bags where a puffy white mushroom, the size of a cotton wool puff, with little craters, an on-trend lion’s mane mushroom, has already bolted the bag. He also grows hen-of-the-wood, golden enoki and shitake mushrooms.

Impressive though it is, this is a small, relatively low-tech set-up that supplies all the lion’s mane shavings on the roughly 200 servings ordered every day of Fallow’s signature mushroom parfait. The bestselling starter is made using the classic technique of a chicken liver parfait yet with mushroom seconds sourced from Fallow’s suppliers and mushrooms grown in-house. “It is, after all, the only thing we can grow in the centre of Mayfair,” jokes Murray wryly. The mushrooms are caramelised in butter until super dark and crisp, combined with shitake (mostly grown on-site), sauteed with mirin and soy then cooked in a water bath and left to set overnight in the fridge before being piped onto wooden boards for service. It is served with pickled shallots, herb oil-smeared sourdough and the raw lion’s mane simply pulled apart in strands which have a mineral-like, tingling taste and look rather like white truffle shavings. The intensely savoury parfait has such a velvety texture that Pierre Koffmann was initially convinced it was foie gras, apparently. 

_{Mushroom parfait at Fallow. Photo by Steven Joyce}

As Mike de Stroumillo of The Wild Room explains, the availability of foraged wild mushrooms is becoming more unpredictable as seasons change with global warming. Besides, digging up mushrooms releases gasses into the atmosphere. What’s more, many foragers work in Eastern Europe so there are the added climate costs of bringing mushrooms to the UK. De Stroumillo is trialling techniques to build on his extensive grow room underground in Bermondsey, London which already supplies restaurants including Philip Howard’s Elystan Street, Ikoyi and Huma. De Stroumillo stresses that this is a more environmentally friendly way of meeting demand for mushrooms, and produces a reliably higher quality mushroom. The ‘shrooms stay firmer during cooking so absorb less liquid and require less fat to be added in cooking. If space is simply too challenging in a kitchen to cultivate mushrooms, The Wild Room are on speed dial and ramping up production.

Brett Graham of London’s The Ledbury is among the fine-dining chefs leading the mycology march. Guests are shown the mushrooms cultivated in-house within a special cabinet supplied by Bristol Fungarium. They bring in growing blocks of compressed bran inoculate: predominantly with shitake, yellow and grey oyster, lion’s mane and nameko, a small chanterelle-like variety.

“Last week we had enough shitake to serve all our guests at The Ledbury all week,” explains Graham proudly. Diners at The Ledbury are invited to choose their own mushrooms as part of the set menu. The mushrooms are roasted and served with a ravioli filled with half potato puree and half grey oyster mushroom cream infused with buckwheat koji topped with a mushroom ketchup made from the shitake liquid, pepped with chive and pepper emulsions and finished with cep powder and a shaving of white truffle. “Both chefs and customers are fascinated by the weird shapes and the phenomenal growth rate of the mushrooms,” enthuses Graham.

_{Brett Graham and the mushroom cabinet at The Ledbury. Photos by Justin de Souza}

Earlier in the year, I visited a mushroom start-up in rural Lancashire run by Paul Thornton and his partner Hayley Ward. Their micro business Wyreside Mushrooms grew out of their lockdown hobby. Handily, it’s down the road from their first restaurant client The Cartford Inn. On basic shelving wire racks with his own DIY growbags stretched taut with weird and abstract protrusions, there are grey and golden oyster mushrooms, reishi and lion’s mane. Thornton uses equipment he has upcycled to create conditions similar to a forest environment.

Patrick Beaume, Executive Chef and co-owner of The Cartford Inn sees such hyper-local collaborations as the future: “We create a new Wyreside Mushroom dish each season showcasing their versatility and delicate punch and elegant complexity”. Currently, on the menu, there’s a dish of pickled golden and oyster and lion’s mane marinated with star anise, bay leaf and pink peppercorns, mixed with pine nuts on a mushroom-flavoured mayo served on mushroom cracker made from dehydrated mushrooms and tapioca. Finished with chives and enoki mushrooms, the dish tastes evocatively of the Forest of Bowland.

_{The current mushroom dish at The Cartford Inn}

Why mushrooms? French-born Beaume explains: “Mushrooms have a captivating aroma, interesting texture ranging from robust to delicate, and taste so good with varying degrees of nuttiness, minerality, milkiness, earthiness, pepperiness, smokiness according to their variety. They’re rewarding to cook with as they absorb flavour so well. They’re also nutritionally valuable with protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals and diners wanting to try a vegetarian or vegan dish find a mushroom-based alternative alluring.”

Thornton thrives on experimentation. He is using tissue samples from wild mushrooms to try to produce a morel-like mushroom he can cultivate in the future. Guests signing up for the Bowland & Bay artisan foodie tour “Taste of the Inn” whilst staying at The Cartford Inn can visit Thornton’s self-made set up and see firsthand this new sustainable way to farm.

“A mushroom that is grown and picked straight away has so much better texture and reliable consistency as well as intense flavour and tastes so fresh as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated,” enthuses Ollie Hutson, Head Kitchen Gardener of The Pig Hotels Group.

“Cultivating mushrooms is part of a larger movement to a more conscious and sustainable way of eating,” Hutson confirms. They are gradually introducing insulated mushroom chambers to all their Pig hotels. The most popular dishes on the menus are pan-fried mushroom steak served with salsa verde or mushrooms poached in dashi and served with pea puree and toasted hazelnuts.

At Battlesteads Hotel & Restaurant in Northumberland, chef Eddie Shilton is working with Snowdonia-based, The Mushroom Garden to create a mushroom fruiting farm growing shitake and oyster mushrooms within a shipping container, whilst Alex Williams of Stockport Funghi is supplying restaurants in Manchester including Osma and Cafe San Juan.

Looking ahead, using technology, sensors and cameras, mushroom farms will no doubt offer a service tending restaurant on-site fruiting chambers remotely. Disruptor mycologists are looking at how to cultivate more exotic, desirable mushrooms such as girolles and matsutake too. Mushrooms are future proofed.