I have been delving into recipes from my past trying to create foodie alchemy. Along the way though I realized that in my last move I somehow accidentally lost a ton of family recipes which broke my heart. My mom’s super strong marinated mushrooms recipe was among the evaporated pieces of paper but I was determined to come up with a flavour re-creation.
There are shockingly few recipes out there for this foodie classic so I had to get creative!
The Inspiration
My mom loved her formulas and I did still have her recipe for her wilted coleslaw. I had made her marinated mushrooms before and knew that all the usual foodie suspects were there. I had enough to go on to attempt to recreate her recipe.
The “Recipe”
She usually made twice this amount for parties that she would host for my dad’s friends and colleagues but I thought one jar would suffice. I am keeping true to the retro flavour profile but feel free to use more “contemporary” foodie ingredients.
You will need: 1 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup canola oil, 1 tbsp salt, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 sliced white onion and 1 can button mushrooms.
Directions
Add the vinegar, oil, salt and sugar to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let simmer for a couple of minutes.
Place onion and mushrooms in a large mason jar.
Pour marinade into mason jar and make sure to cover the mushrooms and the onions. Bring to room temperature. Put on seal and lid and let marinate in the jar for at least two days. I am pretty sure my mom would let it go for a week.
Remove mushrooms but strain the remaining liquid!!! Very important…
Foodie Results
Wowza! There they were! Super vinegary but sweet and salty.
The bold oily taste of the 70s. I did it!
But there is an even deeper reason to make this fantastic retro delicacy.
The Hidden Foodie Treasure
After the parties Mom would use the leftover solution in our salad. Tuna salad in particular.
This is my most favourite salad of all time. So robust, sharp and delicious. It brought me right back to when I was a kid again. That solution is foodie gold my friends. Talk about time travel through the taste buds.
Of course nowadays you would use fresh mushrooms, a more subtle but complex vinegar and a high quality olive oil to achieve the same sort of effect but there is something so brilliant about the simplistic punch to the mouth this recipe offers.
This one is for you Mom! I hope I did you proud.
I want to try this! I would have to use fresh mushrooms because I don’t like the canned flavor, but otherwise, it sounds great!! I love that you recreated a flavor profile that you remembered from childhood. My mom recently gave me her recipe box, and we have Mike’s mom’s as well. I want to spend some time going through them and trying some of their saved recipes!! You’ve inspired me! 😀
Absolutely, as I said, make this recipe contemporary and your own Tammy. How wonderful your mom gave you her recipe box, what a treasure! Yes, go for it. I look forward to seeing what you make. 🙂