Ellen Humphries's Mushroom Soup

In Alaska’s far-flung Yukon region family meals have always been dictated by weather. In the summer there is salmon and, in the later months, berries to be foraged. In the spring and fall there are wild mushrooms to be hunted. These “crops” are dried, smoked, or preserved for the winter months when nature’s grocery is buried under ice and snow. Most longtime residents have a family mushroom soup, an elastic recipe that can grow to accommodate whatever additional ingredients are on hand. This Yu’pik recipe from Ellen Humpries who, like generations before her, has raised her children in the tiny, water-bound town of Emmonak on Alaska’s northwestern coast, makes the soup with chicken or beef broth, or fish or seafood broth and offers additions –– shredded smoked fish, tiny rock shrimp or warmed canned clams, shredded chicken, minced sausage, rice or potatoes –– to the soup and serves her great grandmother’s fry bread on the side. She uses two pounds of wild mushrooms, but those living far from the tundra can substitute dried wild mushrooms, white domestic mushrooms, or shitake mushrooms.

4 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 yellow onion, minced
1 pound white mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced
6 cups homemade or canned chicken broth (fish, seafood, beef, or ham broth can also be used)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme

1. In a heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over low heat until bubbling. Whisk in the flour. Stir and cook until the mixture is pale gold. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In a stockpot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add all the mushrooms and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, salt, pepper, and thyme and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Skim the soup. Whisk 1 cup broth into the butter and flour mixture. Continue to whisk until thick, creamy, and smooth, 2 minutes. Stir the mixture back into the soup and simmer until thickened, 5 minutes more. Serve hot. Or, add more sautéed vegetables, grains, or beans to the syrup and allow to simmer over low heat, adding more chicken broth, if necessary, until cooked.