Downeast Maine Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups dried cepes (American woodland mushrooms)

4 cups dried morels

4 cups fresh morels

36 cups organic beef broth/stock (from a previous blog posting, excluding the pho seasonings)

3 cups organic butter, unsalted, pasteurized

12 cups organic, non-fat, UHT pasteurized, condensed milk, unsweetened, from the cans

OR

12 cups organic, double-heavy cream, pasteurized

1 large, fresh, organic fennel bulb, cleaned, diced into 1/4-inch pieces

12 large, fresh, organic, red shallots, cleaned, diced into 1/4-inch pieces

4 TBL organic, white pepper, finely-ground

Organic sea salt, French, finely-ground

Directions:

Simmer all the ingredients for three hours, uncovered, on low heat. Stir it every 30 minutes.

Afterwards, with the pot still on the hot burner, whisk in 2 cups of organic cornstarch, food-grade, 4 TBL at a time. Finally, puree all the ingredients together.