Mushroom Council targets Texas BBQ music festival with ‘Shroom House’
As peak barbecue season heats up, The Mushroom Council dives deep into the heart of Texas to make sure the nation’s biggest barbecue fans that mushrooms know how great grilled mushrooms are.
On Memorial Day weekend, The Mushroom Council will collaborate with Wicked Kitchen’s co-founders, chefs and brothers Derek and Chad Sarno, for a series of mushroom-centric experiential tasting events at Austin, Texas’s Hot Luck Festival to show, tell and sample mushrooms’ great flavor on the grill, according to a news release.
The promotion will spotlight how mushrooms’ meaty texture and inherent umami fits comfortably alongside more meaty participating chefs’ samples.
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Held throughout downtown Austin, Hot Luck is an annual food and music festival uniting nation’s culinary innovators to fire up their grills and serve finger-licking creations to more than 12,000 barbecue fans. James Beard award-winning Chef Aaron Franklin — owner of Austin’s world-famous Franklin Barbecue — is among the event’s cofounders.
The food mingles with music from artists of many genres.
The “Shroom House” with Derek Sarno
On May 27, The Mushroom Council will host a pop-up at the festival’s Al Fuego main event with Sarno, a leader in the plant-based food movement, cofounder of Wicked Kitchen product line and author of the “Mushroom Manifesto.” In 2022, as the event’s only vegan chef, Sarno grilled 400 pounds of oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms for guests to widespread acclaim, according to VegNews.
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This year, The Mushroom Council and Sarno will present the “Shroom House,” a mushroom-themed sampling station that looks and feels like a classic Texas steakhouse, but with a focus on mushrooms. Located at Austin’s Wild Onion Ranch open-air event venue, the Shroom House will feature Sarno and team serving:
- Grilled "Steak": marinated lions mane "skirt steak" with garlic butter and herbs.
- Black Pearl Poke: oyster mushrooms, white soy, wasabi, lime, greens.
- Portobello Shawarma: with tzatziki, tomato, citrus and herbs served as a taco.
“I’m honored to be working with The Mushroom Council and be at the world-famous Hot Luck Fest, cooking with some of the most talented chefs in the grilling and barbecue world,” Sarno said in the release. “Mushrooms are the new hero in town and, when done right, are worthy of taking center stage. Gone are the days of just being a side dish. I can’t wait to showcase our innovative mushroom techniques and dishes … this is gonna be a blast!”
Other mushroom mayhem
Blended Burgers are also on the menu. In addition to veggie-only, The Mushroom Council also is demonstrating mushrooms’ blendability with meat over the grill with an evening event May 26, featuring chefs Krystal Craig and Ian Thurwachter.
At the “Big Top” carnival-themed gathering at Austin’s Fair Market event venue, Craig and Thurwachter will serve a savory smoked mushroom and Wagyu beef blended burger sliders. Both chefs are of Intero, a famed farm-to-table Italian restaurant in Austin. This duo together brings 35 years’ experience in the food and restaurant industry, combining their knowledge and love for sweet and savory Italian cuisine.
