Review: The Deerholme Mushroom Cookbook by Bill Jones
The Deerholme Cookbook by Bill Jones
TouchWood Editions, 2024
I've reviewed Bill Jones' revised cookbook that explores all things mushroom!
This article was originally published in The BC Review on March 26, 2025
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A confession to start: I didnāt like mushrooms for much of my life. Iād avoid them in every dish, fastidiously picking them out, piling them in an undignified heap on the side of my plate. If someone asked me why I didnāt like them, I couldnāt put words to it. When pressed, Iād admit that Iād probably never even tasted a mushroom.
A handful of years ago, I embarked on a project to see if I could come to tolerate mushrooms. A slow desensitisation, it was surprisingly difficult at first, but within a couple of years of eating fungi whenever they were served to me, something shifted: from initial distaste, to neutral ground, toā¦wait, did I now like mushrooms? I started to order mushroom dishes at restaurants, and then actually bought and cooked with them. Delicious!
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Chef and author Bill Jones (and Oliver) of the Cowichan Valley |
Bill Jones, an expert on wild foods, foraging, and a Michelin-trained chef, clearly shares my newfound appreciation of fungi of all sorts, as evidenced by this updated and revised edition of his 2013 collection The Deerholme Mushroom Cookbook. Based out of Deerholme Farm in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, Jones offers an informative and beautifully photographed cookbook that showcases the diversity of local mushrooms and provides inspiration for incorporating fungi into everyday cooking.
Most of our lives are spent wrapped in civilization. We are nestled in our cars, houses, offices, and landscape. Stepping outside of this comfortable zone, we find the wilderness lurking at the edges of our world. It is here that mushrooms live, waiting to feed us, kill us, heal us, or alter our perception of reality. But which ones do what? That is a really good question. Such a question started me on my journey into the world of fungi.
This book is a celebration of seasonal and local foods from the place Jones calls home. Jones includes a short but fascinating summary of the main mushroom classifications, including symbiotic fungi that benefit from their relationship with plants and trees; saprophytic mushrooms, which feed on dead and decaying materials; the ascomycetes group, which reproduce via spores in tiny sacs inside the mushroom; and parasitic mushrooms, for which, āthe relationship often does not end well for the host.ā
Foraging for local mushrooms is something that Iād love to try! Jonesā chapter on mushroom foraging is a primer rather than a comprehensive guide, with descriptions and pictures that piqued my interest in the possibility of future foraging. He provides a list of helpful gear to take, like a compass and survival kit, but Iād surely need an experienced forager alongside before Iād feel confident. Indeed, Jones notes, āI highly recommend you sign up for a mushroom foraging workshop or join your local mycological societyā¦Going out with experts is a great way to get introduced to the foraging world.ā
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Companion to Bill Jones, Oliver, poses with chanterelles |
Rather than head to the forest, I foraged at the supermarket. On the hunt for some different varieties, I made a trip to my local farmerās market, where I found a few interesting specimens. It being midwinter, there was a limited selection, so I resorted to buying some dried mushrooms. Reconstituted, they worked surprisingly well. The āShopping for Mushroomsā chapter was particularly useful, with its lovely photos. Itās satisfying to identify common mushrooms in the local shops. āThatās a King Oyster!ā I could confidently say to my spouse as I was chopping up my bounty.
The majority of this book showcases a variety of recipes. Divided into sections that include almost everything from stocks, to seafood, to desserts, this book can serve as a reference for cooking with fungi in all seasons. Jones suggests which types of mushrooms to use in each recipe, but always notes alternatives that will substitute well. āThese recipes work with many types of mushroomsā¦the best mushrooms to cook with are the ones you have available. The results will be different, but all are interesting and enjoyable on some level.ā
I chose four recipes to cook and served them as a multi-course meal.
The Recipes:
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Trish Bowering pursues a dish meant to ātransport you to the tapas bars of Spain.ā Photo Trish Bowering |
Conserva of Porcini Mushrooms, Capers, and Lemon
A conserva is a Spanish tapa of preserves in cans or jars. Jones hopes that, āThis combination of fresh porcini, garlic and lemon will transport you to the tapas bars of Spain.ā I substituted button mushrooms for porcinis, and the ingredients came together beautifully. The tomato sauce simmered and reduced, and I finished the dish with a generous amount of lemon juice and zest. Served on plain crackers, the sharp lemon against the umami of the mushrooms was unexpectedly delicious. Leftovers became a pasta sauce: terrific! My only confusion was that the conserva I ended up with looked nothing like its accompanying photograph, which seems to have omitted the tomatoes. They are sitting in the background of the picture, decoratively untouched.
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Photo Trish Bowering |
Curried Mushroom and Coconut Bisque
I love a good soup, especially in mid-winter. For our second course, I made this bisque, drawn to the recipe for the curry and lime. Though Jones suggests chanterelles, āa wide variety of wild and cultivated mushrooms will also work.ā Perfect for my beautiful box of farmerās market fungi! Using veggie stock, this soup came together with ridiculous simplicity considering the result: a sophisticated mushroom delight that allowed me to honour the mushrooms while savouring the curry, lime, and ginger notes. A keeper for sure.
Swedish Mushroom and Crab Pancakes
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Photo Trish Bowering |
A crab and mushroom crepe for dinner isnāt something Iāve ever had, so I decided to challenge myself. With a touch extra flour to make the batter easy to work with, the crepes were simple to prepare. I used the gorgeous farmerās market mushrooms for the filling. Alas, my mistake was to use poor quality canned crab; if I make these again, I will splurge for good quality crab meat. Assembled and warmed in the oven, this dish was decent, but lacked a wow factor: the mushrooms, crab and sour cream were all particularly mellow flavours. I longed for a sauce to add interest. That said, we had tons of leftovers, which I froze. Thawed, they held up beautifully as portable lunchtime wraps, and somehow tasted even better.
Caramelized Mushroom Ginger Upside-Down Cake
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When is a mushroom no longer mushroomy? When it is steeped in brown sugar and ginger, and diced. Caramelized Mushroom Ginger Upside-Down Cake. Photo Trish Bowering |
I rested the cake, perhaps for a bit too long, and when I turned it out, it was squelching with sugary liquid. The top of the cake was strikingly beige, not the rich caramel colour promised in the photo. Slicing into it, it held together, and it tastedā¦not horrible. The mushrooms no longer tasted mushroomy, as the overwhelming flavour was brown sugar and ginger. The cake resembled a steamed pudding, and wasnāt unpleasant, but I probably wouldnāt make it again.
Like the conserva, this cake didnāt match its photograph. In the photo the mushrooms are a beautiful deep brown colour and left whole, while the recipe calls for diced mushrooms.
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My long-conflicted relationship with mushrooms has gradually crystallized into a happy discovery of the delights of this versatile and tasty class of food. āUse this book as a launching pad to propel your journey into the world of mushrooms,ā Jones says, and spending time with The Deerholme Mushroom Cookbook helped me shop for fungi with more confidence, teaching me to identify the more common mushrooms, and pushing me to cook with different varieties. The recipes were generally straightforward with easily sourced ingredients, and came together as an inspiring four course meal, even if the bookās photos sometimes didnāt resemble the finished product.
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Conserva of Porcini Mushrooms, Capers, and Lemon pictured in The Deerholme Mushroom Cookbook |
Iāll keep this cookbook on my shelf as a reference as I explore more mushroom varieties. Perhaps Iāll join a foraging course to gain some confidence identifying wild mushrooms. āThis book is a celebration of seasonal and local foods. In that spirit, seek out the best local food products you can find, support small farmers, or grow your own produce when possible. The planet and your immune system will thank you.ā
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