In the end I was able to find fresh chanterelles and therefore ready for TGRWT #12 with a last minute preparation and blogpost (the round-up of TGRWT #12 has already been posted). The chanterelles were imported from Poland and quite expensive and I was eager to smell them and see if I could recognize the smell reminiscent of apricots (as a commenter pointed out to my announcement: even wikipedia states this fact). But to be honest I was quite disappointed – there were no traces of apricot aroma in my batch. But there was an earthy note. I tasted the chanterelles throughout the preparation, but at no point were they close to what I had tasted earlier and hoped for. But once I’d added some butter and pepper they where much better! Regarding the apricots I didn’t even try to find fresh ones and got the canned variety from the start. They were quite OK and I rinsed them with water a couple of times to wash away the syrup they came in. I imagined I would like to make a pie so I googled for chanterelle pies and quiches and found some inspiration there. And

Chanterelle pie with apricots

Pie crust
150 g flour
1/2 t baking powder
100 g butter
50 mL cold water
pinch of salt

Filling
300 g chanterelle
30 g butter
1 medium onion, chopped
200 g apricots, sliced (I used canned)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
ginger, minced
nutmeg, ground
salt
pepper
1 egg
50 mL cream
grated mozzarella for sprinkling

Mix all dry ingredients for pie crust and work in butter. Add water and knead until even. Roll into a circle of about 25-30 cm and transfer to a baking tin or baking dish. Prickle base and sides with fork and bake at 180 °C for 10-15 min.

Meanwhile, put chanerelle in a dry pan and stir fry them until they have lost some water. Add butter and onions. Stir occasionally. Add apricots, still stirring occasionally. Add garlic, ginger and spices and leave over low heat. Mix egg with cream/milk using a fork. Pour chanterelles into the prebaked pie crust, pour over egg and cream and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake at 200 °C for 25 min or until topping is nicely browned.

Verdict: Despite the somewhat disappointing start the pie came out very nice with subtle flavors, slightly sweet from the apricots and with a nice bite from the ginger. The main contribution from the chanterelles was their characteristic texture, more than aroma. But even so, I had to have another serving and yet another serving… And only in my dreams can I imagine what it would have tasted like if the chanterelles had been fresh and hand picked from the forest. And yes – I would like to make this pie again some time!

As shown in the figure, the radical reacts with sulfur containing proteins, thereby forming a thiol called 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol or just MBT for short. The amazing thing about this compound is that we can smell it at concentrations as low as a few parts per billion (ppb). The perhaps not-so-amazing thing is that this compound gives beer a “skunky” aroma. Obviously one would want to avoid this, and that’s why beer is sold in dark brown glass bottles that act as the beer’s own sunglasses. Canned beer of course will not go skunky (well not until it’s poured into a glass and served outside in bright sunlight – that will turn any beer skunky within minutes).

Unfortunately however, not all beer is sold in dark bottles! One well known brand is shown in the picture below…

And yes – as you might have figured out, 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol is present in Corona beer (and other brands sold in clear bottles, to a lesser extent MBT is also found in green bottled beer). For some references to “skunky” off flavours in beer check out these links: here, here and here. The ubiquitious slice of lime served with Corona beer is nothing but clever marketing since it helps camouflage the smelly thiol formed! (but how well does lime actually camouflage the thiol aroma?)

The take home message is: keep your olive oil, milk, butter and beer away from sunlight!