Mushrooms and Goose Egg

Ground fruit of St George Mealy beige, Scent of sweet dough, Eggs and cured pork wait

To quote Father Dougal McGuire “I love egg” from the classic Father Ted Series, Dougal further endorsed the importance of the noble egg in human gastronomic psyche.

In the spring time goose eggs is a seasonal treat, and the St George’s Mushroom (Calocybe Gambosa) which fruit in the month of April amongst grass meadows and some lawn margins. To me goose eggs and St George’s Mushrooms denote the beginning of the foraging year. I foraged some of these mealy scented mushrooms whilst golfing and will then later cooked with goose eggs and cured pork; the simple pleasure of Spring.

For this year, with respect, nature is first in the queue and rightly so!

Images of St George’s Mushrooms I foraged in 2024 near the 13^th Green of my local golf course. For this post, I will use the above mushrooms, Sautéed in butter, vac-packed and frozen perfectly preserved for this occasion.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of goose eggs from the Gloucestershire Cheese Lady from my local farmer’s market. A single goose egg is about equivalent to about 3 chicken eggs and 2 smallish duck eggs. When cooked goose eggs are creamier and have a richer flavour to taste, costing roughly between £2.50 to £4.00 each only available in spring season. Otherwise, use chicken or duck eggs for this dish.

Cured pork is a strong taste pivot to different countries; Lap Yuk (Chinese soy cured pork belly) for the Asian flavour, Iberico Jamon Lardo for the Spanish flavour, Guanciale for the Italian flavour and the old fashion Welsh dry cured shoulder bacon for the rustic home taste, but to name a few. Of course, there are other good cured porky nibble pieces which are well worth combining with eggs and mushrooms. As I made some Lap Yuk for 2025, I will use Lap Yuk in the recipe in memory of my Mother for her “Paw Paw’s Dinner”.

This egg dish is commonly known in Chinese as Fu Yung, other countries’ variations can be scrambled eggs, Omelette, Frittata or Tortilla de huevo etc. My Mother used to put in minor tweak by adding preserved meat/sausages depending on whatever is in the larder.

Let’s start with a large goose eggs about 90g, 50g of Lap Yuk, 50 - 75g of sautéed St George’s Mushrooms (or available closed cap brown or white mushrooms from shops (Agaricaceae family of fungi), 2 sticks of spring onions, a pinch of white pepper and salt for taste. I saved some roast pork lard in the fridge, so, I will use the lard for this dish, about 1-1.5 table spoon. Otherwise, you can use cooking olive oil or peanut oil instead.

Start by brushing and cutting the mushrooms into 5mm thick slices, heating up the lard on a 8/10 inch non-stick frying pan to mid to high heat, add the sliced mushrooms and sautéed with lightly caramelised on edges and reduced down the liquid and set aside. If the mushrooms have high moisture content, pour out the liquid during cooking to aid caramelization. The liquid can be saved as mushroom stock for another dish.

Crack the egg into a medium bowl, add 1 or 2 chicken eggs to bulk up the dish if needed. Add a pinch of white pepper, salt and the chopped spring onions, then gently whisk with a pair of chopsticks or fork and set aside.

Finely slice the Lap Yuk about 2mm thick. Wipe dry the mushroom pan and add remaining lard and bring to medium to high heat. Put the pork in pan and gently sautéed until translucent, add the mushrooms and stir a little. When the pan starts sizzling, quick whisk of the egg mixture and pour in to cover the base of the pan, give the egg mixture a quick stir at pan base to create ripples and ingredients are well mixed. Keep folding to create a soft scrambled egg consistency and last minute folding to create a moist egg ribbons with lightly caramelised edges.

A dish of steamed fish, stir fried green veg with garlic and boiled rice is added to complete the Paw Paw’s dinner menu.

It is important to mention here that mushroom foraging requires experience and a cautious approach at all timeS to ensure gastronomic safety and ecological sustainability. Learn from experts first, and never assume!