I saw a good price on fresh black Oregon morels -- maybe the only good thing to come out of wild fires -- so I bought a pound. Just in the mood for something out of the ordinary for me.
Came today. Beautiful specimens. One large one, about the size of my palm, but the rest like one or two thumbs. Firm, only 1 or 2 have gone soft. The shrooms were packed in a 6" cube and clearly way more than a pound. After the first round of cleaning and trimming, it was over 1.5# still.
The provider warned that they come from an ashy region so need a thorough wash. I trimmed any stems with black specks stuck to them and cut most in half. I agitated and rinsed them four times, in all. (Saw no wildlife and wasn't expecting any; it's a fancy purveyor.)
So I'm making a pot of morels in cream sauce (butter, lemon, thyme, a splash of madeira, cream) and plan to use it up over the coming week. Or maybe I should freeze some. Would the sauce split?