At the tail end of morel season, we’ll start to see others coming up, especially if we get some rain in the Midwest like we did last week–it poured, and poured. My favorite are the first flushes of young chicken of the woods that come up, sometimes even while I’m out hunting morels, if I’m lucky.
Spring oyster mushrooms will come too, but between you and me, I don’t pick the typical varieties of wild oyster mushroom much, if at all. I usually find them beat up and buggy. I know there’s some out there that are fine and worthy of eating, but my experience with them, and the fact that they’re so widely available commercially tends to dissuade me from gathering them. It’s mostly personal preference.
Golden oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) though, are a bit different. P. citrinopileatus grows gregariously, and, although they can get buggy like their cousins, their habit of fruiting in dependably large amounts warrants picking for the table.
Golden oyster mushrooms
There’s a dark side to them, too, unfortunately. I won’t go into great detail, but golden oysters are a non-native mushroom, and their habit of growing dense and thick unfortunately correlates with them being invasive. They spread like wildfire (some accounts say the Midwestern naturalization was spurred by a fire in a commercial grow opp.) and are slowly spreading across the country. They’re not widespread in Minnesota at the moment I’m writing this post, but they’re in Iowa and Wisconsin, so they will be soon. The golden oysters in this post I was gifted from a friend hunting down in Iowa, filling a cooler with 50 lbs of them was no big deal.
These croutons though. I wrote about mushroom croutons years ago–two different versions that are both good, but typically done with a deep fryer. They’re addictive as a simple bar snack or nibble with a cold beer, and will disappear at light speed. But, not everyone has a deep fryer at home, so, with my fat bag of golden oysters in hand, I revisited my old croutons and worked on a home version for you baked in the oven. It can be done, and they’re great. They’re not as quick as the deep fried ones that only take a few minutes, and you might have some parts that are not as 360 degree crisp, but after you try a few, I doubt you’ll care.
Baked Oyster Mushroom Croutons
Ingredients
- 5 ounces fresh oysters mushrooms
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher or fine salt
- Five cracks of the pepper mill
- 3 Tablespoons cooking oil like light olive oil, avocado, etc
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour or equivalent
Instructions
- Clean the oysters, preferably without having them touch water (as oysters are generally above ground or purchased this isn’t a big issue).
- Pull the mushrooms into single pieces, then toss with the oil, salt, pepper, and finally the flour. Lay the mushrooms out without overlapping on a baking sheet or large cast iron pan, and bake in a preheated 400F oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove the mushrooms and allow to cool in the pan, then remove to a container and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- The mushrooms can be reheated gently in the oven to re-crisp them, but as long as most of the water has been cooked out, and it wasn’t raining when you picked them, they should keep a reasonably crisp texture.
- Depending on your mushrooms, their moisture content, and your oven, you may need to bake them a little more or less, or make a batch or two to tweak the crispness and flavors to your taste. An addicting snack or salad garnish.
I’m starting a small mushroom growing business and I was hoping to write you but have had a hard time finding a way to contact you. I apologize for doing it through here but I’ve been looking for over an hour. I hope it’s ok.
I did want to ask as well. This looks a lot like a mushroom I tried in Laos. They were flavored with lime and spicy peppers and were very crispy. Were they an inspiration for preparing it like this? It’s a great idea to cook them this way especially because they’ll keep for a bit longer I’d think. I’m always looking to extend my mushrooms edible life span. I will definitely have to try this and see how well they keep.
I can’t wait to try this technique with the mushrooms that I reliably find in abundance- honey, chanterelles and hen of the woods. Also really liked your show and look forward to more episodes. Nothing makes me feel closer or more a part of nature than foraging. I think YouTube channels like Primitive Technology get millions of views because there is no music or voices- only the sounds of the environment. I’d love to see you do the same thing with just the foraging section of the video. It would be great if you could capture that feeling- of changing from someone walking through an environment to someone that is now part of the environment. Also for the cooking section, you could do both a simple recipe and a “next level version”- a recipe for someone just starting to cook wild ingredients and something for those of use wanting to experience new ingredients, recipes antechniques. But whatever twists/turns the show takes, count me as a fan.
We live in Missour (but I visit Minnesota often and loved Lucias)i, in the St. Louis suburbs, and have a lot of these in the woods around our house. I never really knew what to do with them but now have an idea. BTW, we picked up some Ida Graves Amaro, and plan to try it over the holidays. Good luck on your new ventures, and I count you as a fan. You should compare notes with Rob Connoley of Bulrush; he is working on heirloom Ozark plantings for his restaurant, and partnering with Scratch, a foraged microbrewery in southern Illinois which is awesome.
I know Rob in passing and have enjoyed his book. Thanks for supporting the Amaro—we have a nocino in stores now too. The oyster croutons are one of my favorite things to make with them too. A