Smoked Cheesy Mushroom Toasts with Vinegar Jelly

Smoked, cheesy herb mushrooms over butter-toasted bread with vinegar jelly

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If you’re looking for a hot starter or a cozy communal entree that pairs well with a salad, this is the dish. This somehow toes the line between a weirdly nostalgic fondue (that you’ve had only once, but once is enough when it comes to fondue), and a deceptively simple yet complex Nordic restaurant menu item.

At its core, it’s a classic comfort food entertaining dish: bread and a hot dip with cheese. White, soft bread is pan-toasted in butter (maximum butter absorption) and topped with a layer of chanterelle vinegar jelly to cut through the rich, umami smoked cheese and cream mushrooms with earthy, woody herbs.

How can I make this recipe with more basic ingredients?

This recipe is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. It could be a very standard type of mushroom-melty cheddar-cream on bread recipe if that’s your plan. Each ingredient decision adds depth and interest but ultimately, a recipe is only truly a recipe if you bother to make it.

You could add liquid smoke to the cream instead of cold smoking it. Or, depending on the weather, cook the skillet over a grill or open flame. There’s also the option of using a smoked cheese.

Instead of vinegar jelly, you could finish each toast with a tiny splash of vinegar on top.

What makes this recipe worth making is the contrast of the steamy, umami-rich creamy, herb mushrooms and the punchy vinegar jelly.

Vinegar Jelly

To call this anything less than unintentional would be giving myself too much credit. Chantrelle vinegar was supposed to be processed via cold oil spherification and positioned over the top of this dish, creating an earthy caviar of sorts. But after two attempts, I clearly was overlooking something in this process (despite having successfully done this in the past) and my beautiful pearls of vinegar compressed together into mush. Luckily (she says retrospectively), one of my screw-ups earlier (too much agar agar) had yielded vinegar jelly.

Apparently, vinegar jelly is really easy to make. Take your vinegar of choice, bring to a boil with agar agar, and whisk. That’s it. As it cools it turns to jelly. While this dish uses chanterelle vinegar (we happened to have it on hand), I think an apple cider vinegar jelly is a highly usable condiment and far less expensive.

What is agar agar?

Agar agar is a gelling/setting ingredient made from seaweed. This is a useful tool in the kitchen for vegan/vegetarian cooking since gelatin (animal-derived) is not usable.

The vinegar jelly recipe here is written in grams for weighing instead of traditional volume-based American measurements because it’s far more accurate (the setting calculation is done by percent weight).

Note that this recipe does use super agar which is slightly stronger due to the fact it is a more refined powder. According to the company that makes the super agar, if you see a recipe that uses agar agar, reduce your quantity of super agar by 10%. Simply put: if you are using agar agar, you may need more than I have listed here. Higher amounts of agar agar/super agar = harder set jelly.

The texture of the jelly produced in this recipe is bouncy, fluffy, and spreadable using a 0.8% by weight quantity.

Cold Smoked Cream

Once the mushrooms are sauteed in the pan, cold-infused smoke is added. We use this technique when we make herb vinegar beets over cottage cheese and have used it in the past on the blog for smoked chocolate chia pudding. Smoke is added to a high fat ingredient in a cup or bowl (in this case cream) and covered to increase contact before dissipating. In the images, you’ll see we did this in a measuring cup, but a more effective method would be to use a bottle with a lid, pipe the smoke in, pour the cream in, seal and shake.

Smoked Cheesy Mushroom Toasts with Vinegar Jelly

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces mushrooms (this was a mix of chanterelle, crimini, shiitake, and oyster), cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon butter

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage

salt and pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream

Hickory wood chips

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/3 cups grated hard goat cheese (this recipe uses a firm, mild goat gouda grated on the large hole side of a cheese grater- talk with your cheese counter professional to find a mild goat cheese that’s able to be grated and melts)

1/3 cup grated gruyere cheese

Bread of choice (we used an Italian loaf, but any softer white bread that toasts nicely is good)

Vinegar Jelly:

100 grams chantelle vinegar (or high-quality apple cider vinegar)

0.8 grams super agar

DIRECTIONS

1. To make vinegar jelly, weigh out ingredients using a scale (remember to tare to account for your container). Heat vinegar in a small pan on the stove over medium. Once steam comes off of the liquid, sprinkle in agar and whisk to dissolve. Bring to a boil, whisk again and remove from heat to cool. Jelly will form as it cools. Whisk occasionally so it doesn’t set undisturbed in the form of the pan. Jelly should be spoonable and spreadable.

2. Clean mushrooms and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Anything that’s too big for the toast will fall off, so plan accordingly.

3. Cold smoke the heavy cream by inserting hickory chips into the smoke gun. Place smoke tube onto the container and fill with smoke for a few seconds. Remove tube and completely cover the container. Add cream to the container and shake (if a bottle or jar with a lid). Leave smoke for about 30 seconds to one minute and open the container to let the smoke out.

4. Heat a cast iron skillet with butter over medium heat and add mushrooms, thyme, and rubbed sage. Stir occasionally for about four minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add smoked cream and Worcestershire sauce and continue to cook for about five minutes on medium low until the cream thickens into a loose gravy consistency. Stir occasionally.

6. Add grated cheese over the entire mixture and allow to melt. Do not stir.

7. Remove from heat and top with additional thyme leaves. Serve with toasted, buttered sliced bread and a thin layer of vinegar jelly.