Taming the Taste for Wild Mushrooms
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 1:00AM 
Among foodies, foraging has become fashionable and wild mushrooms, from the enokis of Brooklyn to the candy caps of Mendocino, are being hunted across America and beyond.
Restaurant chefs have their wild mushroom dealers, who deliver the forest’s most prized fungi; any Boston area insider will know Ben, “the mushroom man.” And in Manhattan, chefs trust “truffle king” John Magazino to supply them with the white gold of mushrooms.
I was lucky enough to tag along with Magazino on one of his drops and had a chance to sample the merchandise. The buyer, an excellent New York City chef, whipped up a pan of creamy scrambled eggs and then, from his breast pocket, John produced a pungent, golf-ball-sized nugget. We shaved the white truffle over our eggs at will. It was a ridiculously decadent experience that I’m not sure I’ll ever get to recreate. But I loved the combination of eggs and truffles, so at least had to try and mimic the flavors at home.
