Browned mushroom pieces, each cut through cap and stem, in a pale tan cream sauce over one slice of crisp toast on a white plate, with a fork beside it. — Creamed mushrooms on crisp toast.

Creamed Mushrooms (1931)

Name: Creamed Mushrooms
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 lb white button or cremini mushrooms; 2 tbsp all-purpose flour; 2 tbsp butter; 1 cup light cream; ½ tsp salt; ⅛ tsp black pepper; 4 slices white sandwich bread

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Creamed mushrooms as read out on the USDA’s radio chat in July 1931: sliced mushrooms floured, browned in butter and simmered in cream with their saved juices, on crisp toast.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Oct 29, 2026

Recipe makes: 4 servings on toast
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 30 min

Browning takes about 12 minutes, since the mushrooms first give up their juice; the cream sauce then needs only a few minutes more.

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Creamed mushrooms on crisp toast.

The story behind the recipe

Mushrooms browned in butter and simmered in cream, spooned over crisp toast, closed the Housekeepers’ Chat of 7 July 1931. The script’s speaker spent most of that broadcast touring the new Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised, then turned to the two mushroom recipes she had promised the day before: broiled caps on hot buttered toast, and these.

Why pour off the mushroom juice?

Mushrooms are mostly water, and floured slices sitting in their own liquid will stew pale. The script has the cook tip that liquid out of the skillet as it runs, keep it, and go on browning in the butter alone. Once the mushrooms are “well browned,” the cream goes in with the saved juice, salt and pepper, so the flavor that cooked out comes back into the sauce. The flour that coated each slice thickens it as it simmers. The script gives no amounts for the flour, salt or pepper, and ends with only “the right consistency.”

The same recipe is printed on page 51 of the May 1931 book, beside the broiled mushrooms, in nearly the same words. The book drops the broadcast’s caution, though. On the air the recipes came with a warning about wild mushrooms and the name of a department bulletin for anyone who wanted to learn to tell the kinds apart. Our recipe is for cultivated mushrooms only.

Making it today

The script has the caps skinned. Cultivated mushrooms today have thin, clean skins, so we leave them on and wipe or rinse the mushrooms. Her “rich milk or cream” becomes light cream here; whole milk gives a thinner sauce. The flour, salt, pepper and bread are our amounts. Serve it as the script did, on crisp toast, as a light supper or beside the Broiled Chicken (1931) from the book’s July dinner. For the rest of that day’s broadcast, with its tour of the green cookbook, read What Did Aunt Sammy Tell Listeners to Cook in July 1931?

For creamed mushrooms, there are six ingredients. I’ll list them.
1 pound of mushrooms
Flour
2 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of rich milk or cream
Salt
Pepper
I’ll repeat that list. (Repeat.)
Wash the mushrooms and skin the caps. Cut the mushrooms in half or into several pieces, if they are large, slicing down through cap and stem. Lightly flour the sliced mushrooms. Melt the fat in a heavy skillet. Add the floured mushrooms, and brown delicately over moderate heat. As the liquid cooks out of the mushrooms, pour it off and save it to add later. When the mushrooms are well browned, pour in the milk or cream, add the mushroom liquor, salt, and pepper. Now stir until the sauce is of the right consistency. Serve on slices of crisp toast.

U.S. Department of AgricultureRadio Service, Housekeepers’ Chat, “A Bigger and Better Radio Cookbook” (script, Tuesday, July 7, 1931), p. 3; the same recipe in Ruth Van Deman and Fanny Walker Yeatman, Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised (Washington, May 1931), p. 51

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Ingredients

For 4 servings on toast. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for 4 servings on toast.

White button or cremini mushrooms1 lb
All-purpose flour2 tbsp
Butter2 tbsp
Light cream1 cup
Salt1/2 tsp
Black pepper1/8 tsp
White sandwich bread4 slices

Ingredients as written here

1 lb white button or cremini mushrooms
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup light cream
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
4 slices white sandwich bread

Equipment

Heavy 10-inch skillet
Small heatproof cup or bowl
Mixing bowl
Toaster

Instructions

Wipe the mushrooms clean, or rinse them quickly and pat them dry. Trim the ends of the stems. Cut each mushroom in half down through the cap and stem, and cut large ones into quarters the same way.
Put the mushrooms in the mixing bowl, sprinkle over the flour and toss until every piece is lightly coated.
Melt the butter in the heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms in one layer and cook, turning them now and then.
As liquid collects in the pan, tilt the skillet and pour it off into the small cup. Keep cooking and pouring off until the mushrooms are well browned on the cut sides, about 12 minutes in all.
Meanwhile toast the bread until crisp and golden, and keep it warm.
Pour the light cream and the saved mushroom juice into the skillet. Add the salt and pepper. Simmer gently, stirring, for about 3 minutes, until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Lay the toast on warm plates, spoon the mushrooms and their sauce over it and serve at once.

Nutrition

280calories per serving

Recipe makes: 4 servings on toast
Servings: 4

Estimated per serving (4) from USDA FoodData Central values for white mushrooms, butter, light cream, flour and white bread.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

The script’s pound of mushrooms fills one 10-inch skillet in a single layer. For twice as much, brown the mushrooms in two batches so they brown instead of stewing.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

The script’s recipe gives mushrooms, butter and cream by amount and leaves the flour, salt and pepper to the cook; we chose the amounts of those three, the bread and the times. Leaving the skins on, light cream for “rich milk or cream,” and the spoon-coating test are our choices. Use cultivated mushrooms; never pick wild ones to eat without an expert’s identification. Chill leftovers within 2 hours and reheat them gently, stirring, to 165°F (74°C), adding a spoonful of milk if the sauce has set too thick. Contains dairy and gluten.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.