It’s soup time! The autumnal equinox just passed, and days are getting shorter and cooler; the rainy season started. Slowly I am replacing the cooling meals of a record-breaking hot summer with warming dishes. Fall rain triggered reminiscences of my first mushroom-picking venture and this Romanian Mushroom Soup.
One rainy fall day when I was in college, Vlodko Romanowsky, a family friend who grew up in Bukovyna, the Ukrainian region ruled by Romania until 1945, called and enthusiastically exclaimed, “Time to pick mushrooms!” Vlodko, an inveterate community organizer, was planning a weekend excursion to hunt for mushrooms in the forests near Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. He was assembling a mushroom expedition, persuading friends and families to join.
Deep Creek Lake, Maryland
I grew up with Vlodko’s expeditions. Vlodko planned big activities. He liked to play games and tell jokes. But most of all, he loved to tell stories and be the expedition cook.
When Vlodko convinced enough people, a caravan of cars filled with adults and adolescents departed Baltimore midday on Friday for the 180-mile trip, stopping for produce and dairy provisions to supplement the mushrooms we hoped to forage for the weekend’s meals. As soon as we settled in our spartan weekend base, an old stone farmhouse communally owned by several Ukrainian families, Vlodko laid out the plan: each morning he would guide us to his most productive picking spots. Our goal was to pick enough mushrooms for lunch and dinner.
Spending a morning traipsing through rainy woods was relaxing, but several of us were concerned about the safety of eating what we scavenged, wondering whether we could distinguish edible from poisonous mushrooms.
Vlodko assured us he knew the difference. He was an amateur mycologist who learned to pick mushrooms in his youth in the Carpathian Mountains. He told us that some of the Maryland mushrooms were the same, but he had foraged in this forest previously with a knowledgeable western Maryland mushroom hunter and knew the edible species. He also had a guidebook! He promised to scrutinize the mushrooms we collected repeatedly, discarding suspicious ones.
Western Maryland forest
On a rainy Saturday morning, leaving other adults behind, Vlodko, four young friends and I, outfitted with cloth collecting bags, Swiss army knives and army surplus ponchos, headed for the hunt. We collected several pounds of assorted mushrooms when we returned to the warm and dry house at midday.
Honey fungus mushroom in western Maryland
“Good eating ahead!” declared Vlodko as he took control of the kitchen, announcing he would prepare a Romanian Mushroom Soup he remembered from his childhood. He called this soup ciorba, the Romanian word for a one-pot, hearty meal. Soup, Vlodko explained, was an elixir, a staple of Romanian cuisine.
I later learned that ciorba was one of three traditional Romanian soups: supă, ciorba and bors. While supă is a classic soup — sweeter, more liquidy with vegetables and/or noodles, but no meat, ciorbă, introduced to Romania by the Ottoman Empire army after passing through Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, is a sour soup (usually soured with vinegar, lemon, sauerkraut juice or whey), filled with vegetables and/or noodles, probably with meat. Bors is the Romanian version of beet borshch, soured with a fermented wheat bran liquid.
Vlodko was an instinctive cook. He did not follow a printed recipe nor use measuring implements. Although I don’t precisely recall what Vlodko did, I do remember that each mushroom hunter was assigned a prep task: clean and chop mushrooms, carrots and onions, mash garlic, peel the celeriac and haul water from the well.
When the prep was done, Vlodko layered smoked pork hock and vegetables into a big pot, adding handfuls of spices and herbs, panfrying fresh mushrooms and steeping dried mushrooms (which Vlodko brought from Baltimore in case our hunt was unsuccessful) in boiling water to soften. Several hours later, we sat down to a hearty, umami-rich mushroom soup, quite different from the cream of mushroom soups – canned or homemade that I was used to.
The vivid recollection of this mushroom hunting trip compelled me to reconstruct this Romanian Mushroom Soup from memory, supplemented with guidance in various YouTube videos that reminded me of the process.
I wanted to capture the flavor of the original soup, so I primarily used the same ingredients, although many variations are possible. Additional vegetables can be incorporated. The pork hock can be substituted with another smoked meat or eliminated. Favorite spices and additional chilis can be added to ramp up flavor and heat.
Without available fresh wild mushrooms, I replicated their intense umami taste using a mixture of fresh cremini, oyster and king trumpet mushrooms and a blend of dried porcini, shiitake, oyster and portabella mushrooms.
Assorted dried mushrooms
I sautéed the fresh mushrooms in butter and oil until brown. I soaked the dried mushrooms overnight to soften, extracting maximum flavor. Of course, this recipe can be made using only dried mushrooms, but fresh mushrooms, browned in butter and oil, contribute a meatiness lost in dehydration. Although I added bits of pork hock to the final soup, this meat addition can be omitted without affecting the savoriness of the soup.
I cooked this soup in one pot, dividing the ingredients into those used for the stock from those used for the soup. The smoked pork hock, carrots, onions, celeriac and black pepper created a delicately smoky stock. I strained the stock, removing and discarding the vegetables but saving the pork hock. Then I sauteed the remaining ingredients (additional carrots and onion, red bell pepper, hot chili, spices and herbs) until onions became translucent and added them later along with potatoes to provide flavor, texture and visual interest to the soup.
When the soup was almost cooked, I thickened it with a beurre manié (French for “kneaded butter”), making it slightly more viscous without becoming sticky or heavy. Then I added a touch of cider vinegar to cut through the richness and create the balanced sourness and amazing flavor essential to a Romanian ciorba. To finish, I stirred in several tablespoons of heavy cream for a silky finish.
This Romanian Mushroom Soup packs a flavorful punch. It is tasty and substantial but light with a bold complexity. A perfect one-pot meal with a chunk of bread! In our household, we enjoyed the soup as cooked. But this ciorba is often served with sides of minced garlic and vinegar so that each diner can adjust the soup according to taste.
This Romanian Mushroom Soup tastes even better after a night in the refrigerator, reheated the next day. It´s a perfect recipe to make ahead. It can be frozen and enjoyed over several months.
Romanian Mushroom Soup
For the stock:
4 quarts (4 l) water
1 pound (454 g) smoked pork hock or smoked pork ribs (about 2-3 ribs)
4 medium carrots, about ½ pound (220 g)
1 pound (454 g) celeriac, cut in half
2 medium onions (140 g)
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
3 allspice berries
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1 tablespoon Morton’s kosher salt
For soup:
2.5 ounces (70 g) dried wild mushrooms (porcini, cremini, shiitake), reconstituted in 4 cups (1 l) boiling water
8 cups (600g) assorted wild mushrooms, sliced or substituted with the same amount of fresh cremini, oyster and trumpet mushrooms
5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
4-5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 hot chili, diced
3-4 cups (709-946 ml) mushroom soaking liquid
1 pound (450 g), small boiling potatoes, diced
1-2 tablespoons vinegar, lemon juice or whey, to taste
3 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
For garnish:
2 ounces (57 g) fresh dill, minced
2 ounces (57 g) fresh parsley, minced
For serving:
Minced garlic
Cider or white vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Presoaking dried mushrooms: At least 5 hours before making soup, or ideally the night before, place dried mushrooms in a large, spouted measuring cup and add 1 quart (1l) boiling water. Cover tightly with plastic film. Set aside until soft.
Rehydrated dried mushrooms
When ready to make soup, drain softened mushrooms into a sieve placed over a large bowl for catching and saving the soaking liquid. Squeeze mushrooms to extract additional liquid. Then chop mushrooms into ½-inch pieces, discard thick stems and pieces, and set aside.
Chopped rehydrated dried mushrooms
Strain the soaking liquid through a paper coffee filter (or folded paper towel) to catch any sand. You should have 3-4 cups (700-950 ml) soaking liquid. Save the clean liquid, discarding the filter.
Stock ingredients
Preparing stock: Add pork hock, 2 whole carrots, one onion cut in quarters, half of a peeled celeriac cut in chunks, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, thyme, salt and 4 quarts (3.79 l) of water into a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour. Then, turn off the heat. Remove and discard vegetables and bay leaves, reserving pork hock. Keep stock warm.
Preparing fresh mushrooms and remaining vegetables: While stock is cooking, clean, dry and slice fresh mushrooms, discarding thick stems.
Sliced fresh mushrooms
Heat a large skillet on high and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil. Add fresh mushrooms in a single layer, separating the pieces, and sauté for a few minutes without stirring until browned. Then remove to a bowl. (Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to brown in batches, adding same amounts of butter and oil for each batch.) Do not wash the frying pan, but deglaze the pan with a small amount of soup, scraping with a spatula all the browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Pour the deglazing liquid into the soup.
Dice the remaining onion. Add onion and a pinch of salt to the same large frying pan with 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil. Sauté over medium heat until onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
Soup vegetables
Assembling the soup: While mushrooms are cooking, peel and dice potatoes and carrots; dice both peppers. Bring stock to a boil. When the fresh mushrooms are browned, add both mushrooms to the stock, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add reserved soaking liquid and continue cooking on a simmer.
Trim skin off pork hock. Remove and dice meat, trimming off fat. Add diced meat to stock.
Then add vegetables and cook until tender.
To thicken the soup, combine 3 tablespoons soft butter and 3 tablespoons flour in a large bowl and stir into a smooth paste. Slowly add 2 ladles of warm stock, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the heavy cream. Pour the thickening and cream mixture into the soup, stirring or whisking until incorporated to thicken the broth slightly. Reheat the soup for a few more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Turn off heat and add a few tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to make the soup tart. Sprinkle with parsley and dill.
Serve hot with bread and additional vinegar or lemon juice and minced garlic.
Serves 10 dinner portions.
Finished soup
Photo credits:
Maryland fall forest –© Péter Gudella—33992719 –Dreamstime.com
Deep Creek Lake –© —233084520 Dreamstime.com
Honey fungus mushrooms –© Keith Allen –233607644Dreamstime.com
Other photos – Slava Johnson
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