Cooking Hen of the Woods (Maitake Mushrooms)
Yesterday I went foraging for mushrooms for the first time this Fall and sadly I didn’t find many edible ones (I still enjoyed it a lot and took a lot of pictures).
However, on my way home, I decided to stop by a Japanese supermarket and treat myself with some store-bought mushrooms. Luckily, they had Maitakes (aka Hen of the Woods or Grifola frondosa, if you prefer Latin names like me).
I will write another post with some of the characteristics and properties of this mushroom, but for this one I just wanted to share how I cooked it and how beautiful it looked.
I bought two packages because I wasn’t sure how to cook it and I wanted to try a couple of different ways.
The first thing I noticed is how beautiful this mushroom is. Check it out. Isn't if gorgeous?
I decided to cut one in pieces and fry it in butter and bake the other one in the oven with a little bit of olive oil.
The trick to frying mushrooms is to use enough oil/butter to cover the entire surface of the pan with a thin film but not too much (mushrooms are like sponges and will absorb all the oil from the pan) and not to add salt until the mushrooms are brown and crispy. If you add salt while they’re cooking they will release water (mushrooms are around 90% water) and they won’t caramelize.
This is a picture of the Maitake just after I put them on the pan...
And after 5 minutes of cooking at medium-high heat...
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The other Maitake was baked at 350 F for half an hour.
I tried both of them by themselves and with a bit of lemon, and the lemon definitely made them taste much better. This mushroom is one of my favorites, it has a really earthy taste with some nutty notes (very umami).
The fried Maitakes tasted better, but the baked one looked beautiful.
And that was it, a delicious and beautiful mushroom meal. Next time I will try to get more creative and look for an actual recipe. I bet there are many ways to prepare Maitakes since it is one of the major culinary mushrooms used in Japan, alongside Shiitakes, Shimejis, and Enokis.
If you know of any recipes, please let me know.
I hope you enjoyed this post and bon apetit!
For more articles about mushrooms, check my blog by clicking the button below.
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Looks delicious! I love these kinds of mushrooms.
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just came across this and remembered you. A mushroom shaped animal XD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrogramma
Wth is that?? Whatever it is, it looks really cool.
Thanks @trumpmam
It kind of looks like a pinecone. So pretty!
I am (perhaps notoriously) hesitant to talk about eating found mushrooms on steemit - but specialty food markets are a frequently overlooked way to become familiar with wildly available mushroom. For those lucky enough to live in NYC - if you want a crash course in some of the heavy hitters of wild foraged mushrooms, go to Eately. You may spend a small fortune - and you need to get lucky and find a fresh batch - but if you do you can get super familiar, up close and personal, with fresh blewits, chanterelles, morels, maitake, jelly ears and others in a safe environment. You can even treat them like wild finds if they're fresh enough, do a full evaluation with a spore print and see if you can key them out appropriately.
For the more socially isolated mushroom enthusiasts - like myself ;) - specialty food markets can provide a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Fantastic post! Can't wait till we get some mushrooms going on the farm. Truly one of the finer things in life.
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