Homemade mushroom elixir

The mushroom elixir is so good you would want to pour a teaspoon for yourself. Tasting is believing. The taste remains with you for a long time after you have swallowed the liquid. The wine folks might have a word for that. Basically, this is a condiment you would want to have in your fridge. I use it like soy sauce. 

The Norwegians call it "soppsoya" ("Mushroom soy"). 

The classical Norwegian recipe comes from Else Wiborg.

Ingredients:
Edible mushrooms (including those which are not perfect enough for your dinner table)

1. Cut mushrooms into large bits.
2. Layer mushrooms and sea salt in a large bowl.150-200 g sea salt to 1 kg mushrooms
3. Cover with a plate and put a weight on top of the plate.
4. Leave in a cold place (I put mine in the fridge) for about a week.
5. At the end of the week, you should have quite a lot of dark liquid in the bowl (mushroom extract). If you use Agaricus or other edible dark-spored mushrooms, the liquid will be witch black! Sieve the liquid and measure how much you have. Throw away the mushrooms.

For one liter of mushroom extract, you need:
250-500 g sugar
5 anchovy filets
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
3 laurel leaves
2 dl red wine

6. Brown the sugar in a pot. Make sure it doesn't burn. CAREFULLY, add the mushroom extract. Add the spices, the anchovies and the red wine. Let the liquid simmer for about half an hour.
7. Cool the liquid. Sieve with a muslin cloth. Bring the liquid to boil again.
8. Pour into clean bottles.

ENJOY! 

I use my homemade mushroom elixir when marinating fish or meat. In party nuts. In homemade pancetta. You name it.

You can experiment and use other spices. I have seen recipes with juniper berries, star anise, cardamom, cummin, rose pepper, green pepper, thyme and nutmeg. I have also seen recipes which have included shallots and celeriac.

The first time I tried making mushroom elixir, I ended up with only about half a liter of mushroom extract so I froze it and made the elixir when I had enough batches of frozen mushroom extract. I have also made this with frozen mushrooms.