Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/350 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 — full exif
Priceless Matsutake Mushrooms — 松茸
Matsutake mushrooms more commonly
look like this
A friend of ours is a professional chef of the highest order (such that we can't possibly afford to eat at his restaurant), and today he unexpectedly gave us an amazing gift: two huge matsutake mushrooms.
Unlike the wild (and possibly poisonous) mushrooms we saw the other day, matsutake mushrooms are a rare delicacy, perhaps along the line of truffles in the west. Normally, they're tiny little stubs like those shown at right, which would take a good dozen just to cover the bottom of the basket we received.
Yet, even those little stubs are about $50 each, so it's not really possible to place a value on the humongous basket-overflowing specimens he gave us. We're really at a loss for words over this amazing gesture. (We may have to gesture back our firstborn or a couple of kidneys just to try to start to show our appreciation.)
I tried to refuse them, telling him over and over that such high quality would be wasted on us. He insisted, so I brought them home to a shocked Fumie.
We tried one right away.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Arranging Them Just So
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Huge Chunks of Matsutake
It's really not possible to overemphasize how completely gluttonous and excessive this is. I can't speak to how the $500-per-person restaurants might serve these mushrooms because I don't eat there, but an expensive bowl of Matsutake soup at an upscale restaurant might contain four or five very thinly sliced pieces that total a third of one of the chunks shown here.
Particularly when cooking, their smell was exquisite, and it filled the house.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 38mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — full exif
Snack is Served, Your Highness
Wow! This looked so good I almost swooned, and your description made it worse. Hope it tasted as good as the hype.