How to cook and preserve slippery jacks

The slippery jack is good not only in the basket but on the table too. It's fried with potatoes, pickled in jars for winter and dried for later. This versatility makes it a kitchen favorite, but each method has its own tricks.

Let's go through the three main routes for slippery jacks: the frying pan, the marinade and drying. And let's start with a question many people wonder about: do slippery jacks need to be boiled first.

Do slippery jacks need to be boiled first

Opinions differ here, so the answer depends on the method.

Young, clean slippery jacks can be fried without boiling first, as long as they're well cleaned and washed. But many home cooks still boil them for 10–15 minutes in salted water and pour the water off. This removes leftover slime, the slight bitterness of the skin and any extra debris.

For pickling and freezing, boiling is pretty much a must: it makes the mushrooms safer to store and tastier. So the rule is simple: you can fry them without boiling, but for preserving it's better to boil them first.

How to fry slippery jacks

Fried slippery jacks with potatoes or onions are a classic of Ukrainian cooking. They cook quickly.

1. Peel the slimy skin off the mushrooms and wash them well.
2. If you like, boil them for 10 minutes and drain in a colander.
3. Put them in a dry frying pan and cook off the excess moisture.
4. Add oil or butter and onion, and fry until golden, 15–20 minutes.
5. Salt at the end, so the mushrooms don't release extra juice too early.

Slippery jacks turn out tender, with a pleasant mushroom flavor. Sour cream or fresh herbs at the end are a nice touch.

How to pickle slippery jacks

Pickled slippery jacks are one of the tastiest winter preserves: the small, springy mushrooms keep their shape beautifully.

Basic marinade per liter of water:

• salt: 1 tablespoon;
• sugar: 1.5 tablespoons;
• 9% vinegar: about 50–70 ml;
• bay leaf, peppercorns and cloves to taste.

Here's the order: boil the cleaned slippery jacks for 15–20 minutes, drain, then simmer them in the marinade for another 10 minutes and pack them into sterilized jars, topping up with hot marinade. Store in a cool place. Young, firm mushrooms of the same size work best for pickling.

How to dry slippery jacks

Drying is the option for those who love a mushroom aroma in their soups and sauces in winter.

There's a catch: classic slimy slippery jacks are harder to dry than porcini, because they darken and can stay sticky. That's why drier species or young mushrooms are often chosen for drying, and the skin is often left on.

• Don't wash the mushrooms before drying; just clean them and brush them off with a dry brush.
• Slice them and dry in a dehydrator or in the oven at 45–50 °C with the door ajar.
• When they're done, the mushrooms should snap, not bend.
• Store in a tightly sealed container, away from moisture.

Before cooking, dried slippery jacks are soaked in warm water, and the soaking liquid goes into the dish for aroma.

A few general tips

Slippery jacks spoil quickly, so cook them right after you get back from the forest, without putting it off. Pick young, firm mushrooms; old ones with a darkened sponge aren't fit for preserving.

And of course, it all starts with a good harvest. To avoid coming home from the forest empty-handed, follow the weather with our mushroom radar: it shows when moisture and warmth line up well for mushrooms to appear in coniferous and mixed forests.

Sources

• «Key to the Fungi of Ukraine» (Kyiv, Naukova Dumka publishers).
• Suillus luteus on GBIF, a global biodiversity database.
• Suillus on MycoBank, an international fungal nomenclature database.
• Suillus luteus on Wikipedia.