The original lions mane mushroom crab cake recipe was born on this site. This is one of my all-time favorites. I guarantee this is so good, some people may not be able to tell it's a crabcake made from mushrooms instead of crab.
If I get asked for my go-to recipe for Hericium / Lions mane mushrooms, crab cakes are usually the answer. Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly good sautéed and browned, but one of their best characteristics is their texture and flavor that resembles crab meat in a strangely pleasing way.
Sometimes mushrooms with different shapes, forms and textures can be challenging to cook in creative ways, but when they have a mild texture like crustaceans (shrimp of the woods are good too, but different) crab cakes are a tried and true crowd-pleaser that need to be in your repertoire.
The only problem can be finding enough of them to make into cakes, since you'll need at least a good pound to serve four people. I finally have a log that's producing pounds of Hericium coralloides mushrooms dependably.
These can be one of the more tricky wild mushrooms to find from my experience and most of the time if people aren't primed to look for them, they might just pass them by as just another strange looking tree growth.
Thankfully, one cake is so rich I don't even need to have meat alongside for a meal. When the time comes that you find a nice, multiple-pound clump (clusters over 50 lbs are possible!), do yourself a favor and make the lions mane crab cakes at least once. You deserve to make them, yes you do.
For the best texture, compress those cakes
Chefs Tips
They're easy to make, but there's a couple things to know about making mushroom cakes that will both hold up while cooking, and not be too tough.
- Don't get happy with the breadcrumbs or flour.
- Regular eggs here. I don't use jumbo sized eggs.
- Remember that Hericiums / lions mane mushrooms can hold a lot of water and the more you can remove before frying the finished mushroom cakes, the better (I squeeze it out after sweating them).
- Don't put a bunch of B.S. in your lions mane cakes, save your fake cheese, beans, or other obscenity for another day.
- For the chefs treat, put a fried egg on it.
- A chef trick is to use a ring mold the best shape, in a pinch just cut a plastic bottle to form a plastic ring about 2 inches tall by about 3 inches wide.
- Adding to #6, compacting the cakes also ensures a really meaty, solid cake, trust me here.
- Don't cook like a civilian. Double check your seasoning for herbs and salt, then before frying the cakes, check it again. It's not my fault if you don't know how to season your food, so don't complain that it's underseasoned. Capische?
- Golden. Brown. Crust. If I see any weak-looking, blonde, Bush-League cakes, you'll be on salad station faster than you can say potato peeler.
Lions Mane or Hericium Mushroom Crabcakes
Ingredients
Mushrooms
- 1 lb lions mane or other Hericium mushrooms
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons water
Cake mix
- ¼ cup minced scallion
- ¼ cup minced red bell pepper
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup high fat mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chopped herbs like cilantro tarragon, or Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon worcesterchire or similar I use mushroom ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning optional, a mix of paprika, cayenne, and extra salt can be substituted
- 1 large egg
- Kosher salt to taste
Serving
- All purpose flour for dredging
- Flavorless oil for cooking the cakes
- Fresh green salad
- Dollop of spicy mayonnaise optional
- Fresh cut chives optional
- Lemon wedges
Instructions
Wilt the mushrooms and remove the water
- Pick the lions mane mushrooms into pieces to resemble crab meat. Put the mushrooms in a pan with the water and salt, cover and bring to a simmer, stir, cover, and cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms are wilted and have given up their juice.
- Allow the mushrooms to cool, then squeeze out as much water as you possibly can. This step is important as mushrooms, unlike crab, contain lots of water.
Mix with the crab cake mix
- Combine the mushrooms with the cake ingredients and mix well. Taste a bit of the mixture (you can cook it if raw egg weirds you out) adjust the seasoning for salt and anything else you’re looking for, then allow the crab cake mix to rest for at least 15 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to hydrate, which will make forming the cakes easier. In a perfect world, you’ll let it sit overnight.
Cooking
- To cook the cakes, form 4 oz patties of the mixture (it will be delicate, don’t worry—the egg will set as they cook). For the most refined look, form the cakes using a ring mold.
- Heat a pan with a few tablespoons of oil.
- Heat an oven to 350F. Meanwhile, gently dredge the cakes in flour on both sides, tap off the excess, and brown gently on medium heat. When one side of the cakes are golden brown, gently flip the cakes and transfer the pan to the oven and cook until hot throughout, about 10 minutes.
Serving
- Remove the cakes to a plate with a fresh green salad, top with a dollop of spicy mayonnaise or aioli if using, sprinkle with chives and serve with lemon wedges on the side. The cakes are also excellent served on a bun like you would a burger.
Dan F
My mouth waters!! OMG those look good. I haven't found a hericium in several years, and never did find a reliable tree or area. Well, the one log that was looking like it might produce until it rotted to nothing was removed for a disc golf park. Grrrr!!
Anyway... next time I do stumble onto one... crab cakes, it is!
Pete Hautman
Thank you for the recipe. That was the first thing I thought of upon tasting my first Hericium—crab cakes! But I never seem to find enough at one time. Still searching...
Alan Bergo
You're very welcome Pete. It was pure luck stumbling upon the Hericium patch, and for a couple years I really could only find little bits here and there-rarely enough to make little cakes everyone mentions with these. I'm always keeping my eyes out for spots with dead, fallen wood. I've seen a bunch at Wild River.
Jean Sershen
I found these recently and they were dirty and difficult to clean, so I pickled them as you suggested in another post. I have two beautiful pints????Then yesterday I found some more so I thought I'd fry some up. I ate very little since it was my first time trying them (my husband tried them as well). I got a stomach ache a few hours later (he didn't but he had less than I). Do you think it's a reaction or did I not cook them long enough? Is this a common mushroom to react to with GI upset? I now hesitate to eat the pickled ones. What's your hunch? Not that it matters but I am allergic to shellfish. thoughts?
Thanks! Jean
David Wilson
Alan - I'm looking for someone to spend a few hours out on my land to teach me to forage mushroom - we've got lots of them but even with the guide books I'm not sure which ones to eat except the puff balls. Is there anyone around the Twin Cities area I could hire to hike with me and teach me about edible mushrooms?
Can't wait to go back to Lucia's with you at the helm!
Alan Bergo
Thanks David, and sorry for the radio silence over here. The Lucia's undertaking is eating me a live a bit, slowly but surely I'm getting happier with the place though, but it is slow going.
Will K.
What a great idea! I've only found this mushroom once; H. erinaceus is much more common in my stomping grounds. I'll keep this recipe in mind for when I run across it again.
Joey rohl
First recipe with lions mane and wow. What a great mushroom! Not overpowering at all. Blends well with allowing the flavors to individually pop. Thank you for the recipe will definitely be trying your others!
Nina
Why would you separate the mushrooms and their liquid only to put them back together in the very next step?
Alan Bergo
The reason the mushrooms get separated from their liquid is because they need to be chopped, it wouldn't be a lot of fun to chop very wet mushrooms, and you would lose some of their juice that has a lot of flavor in it.
S Mois
Just made this recipe and like with all your recipes it came out delicious. I did serve it with lobster mushroom risoto. Delish....
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you.
Carla Beaudet
Purchased a beautiful Hericium at the Staunton, VA farmers market on Saturday, and used your recipe as a guide. One question: Is there some reason you sweat these as opposed to steaming them for the first step of cooking? I mean, it seems like the object is to get them to give up their liquid without browning them, and steaming would get you to the point where any liquid could be wrung out and saved without a chance of browning.
Alan Bergo
Sweating can be done in a pan. Steaming would involve a little more complicated process. You can do whatever you want though, more than one way to make a mushroom crabcake.
Robert Johns / The Growing Company
Hi Alan,
12/02/2017
I found a 2.8 pound specimen of Hericium erinaceous (Snow Crab Mushroom) growing about 30 feet off of the ground from an oak tree that appeared to be hit by lightning.
My fiance climbed an extension ladder to extract it from the tree and gently tossed it down to me with an open blanket.
Once removing the base debris, which wasn't much, and cutting the specimen by about 1/3 more to give to share with a visiting doctor who is working with our Exotic Mushroom Company to produce a variety of nutraceutical tempehs, I was left with 0.9 pounds of the specimen. I added a Pink Lobster mushroom (Hericium abietis) with the H. erinaceous to make up the one pound amount required to attempt your recipe.
I had no idea what sweating a mushroom entailed so I read your recipe about 10 times and then called a few acclaimed chefs (clients/friends) in Atlanta to get their input on sweating the mushrooms. Basically, I decided from your suggestions and theirs to cut the nearly impeccable mushroom and the choice small amount of the H. abietis into chunks and put them in 2 saute pans. I couldn't really get all of the pound in my largest pan.
Not much liquid ever formed, even with the condensate from the lids that I decided to use. The mushrooms very slowly, but eventually wilted and became soft throughout, Teeth first, cuticle (core) last. I used a cheese cloth and nitrile gloves to squeeze the juice out of the mushrooms and found the juice and the mushrooms to be delightful with the small amount of butter and pinch of salt that you recommended.
We pre-measured all of the ingredients that your recipe outlined and mixed them together as per recipe.
The forming of the Snow Crab/Pink Lobster Mushroom Cakes we found the mix a bit sticky, but it did hold together. We used jumbo eggs, so that might have had some affect on the mix.
Finally we put the formed cakes into the 2 Tbl buttered saute pan, and we got (4) four-inch cakes and one a bit smaller.
Result:
Four people tasted the recipe and we were all satisfied, but we all came away with the recipe needing something. Perhaps more lemon? Perhaps more onion? Maybe the mushroom should be torn and not chopped? Something.
We'll try it again after tomorrow's harvest of the H. abietis (Pink Lobster Mushroom) growing in one of the test growing houses, and continue to experiment.
Thank you very much for this foundation recipe. We only wish that you were here to prepare it for us so we would have had a professional's touch added to our first taste.
Let me know if you have any ideas to help us improve this recipe. We have been in commercial production for 40 years and yet we experiment growing over 40 varieties of mushrooms. We are eagerly seeking ideas to expand our value-added mushroom food product line, so this is important to us.
Thank you very much,
Robert Johns
President/Owner
The Growing Company
Alan Bergo
Hi Robert, you made the crab cakes!
Thanks so much for sending me your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
It can be hard to convey certain things through recipes. Even with a recipe measurements written by weight using a scale with simple directions, there can be culinary vagaries that can be confusing. For example, I should have probably specified the exact size of the eggs I used in the recipe, which are usually smaller than commercial eggs. Smaller eggs may not seem like a big deal, but egg white in particular can be a very volatile variable. Egg whites not only possess, and therefore add excess water to things, but that water can then dilute flavors. Egg whites also have a much more rubbery coagulative property than fatty egg yolks. Maybe this year I should try developing a version with all yolks like I do with pasta.
Other things can muddy the waters too, the size of locally harvested scallions is often much larger than commercially available scallions, which are generally very small and thin and have much less of the assertive white bottom portion of the plant. That being said, It's also very important to me to make things on here to be as accessible as possible, so insisting people only use organic scallions harvested at the peak of season, purchased at a farmers market would make things start to sound a little overbearing to me.
The other thing I always impress upon people I'm cooking with is to taste their food, repeatedly, something that is very important for consistency in restaurant work. In the vast majority of the recipes I have here on this website, near the end of the method it says something to the tune of "taste for seasoning and adjust as needed". Before something is sent out to a friend, family member, or most importantly, a paying guest, tasting the dish one last time and making any necessary adjustments is the last safeguard to ensure properly seasoned food.
Lastly, did your guests that ate the cakes eat them as part of a larger dish, or were they by themselves? I try to focus on the purity of ingredients here, but eating a plate of anything alone can get monotonous. I really liked these with a dollop of aioli, and a lemony green salad, nothing too fancy, just some simple partners on the plate to round it out.
If you try it again let me know how it goes! Thanks again.
Liddy
This looks great . Cheasapeak bay born an raised
Robert Johns / The Growing Company
Hi Chef! Wow, that was a really great description of the eggs, scallions, and tasting process.... Good thing I'm a mycologist and researcher of mushrooms and not a culinary master as yourself!!!
It was very frustrating trying to get the recipe right, as a complete amateur "cook", but now that I've done it once, and with your further instructions, I think we'll have better success next time. It took us almost 3 hours to finish the recipe on the first attempt, but I think it will take less than half of that time the next time.
As for how the guests sampled the Snow Crab Mushroom Crab Cakes: The plates were served with one crab cake per person. One pound of the H. erinaceous (we've trademarked it commercially as the Snow Crab Mushroom). As hinted at in the earlier post, The Growing Company has also trademarked the Hericium's cousin, H. abietis, which grows with a pink pigmentation, as the Pink Lobster Mushroom, as it is pink, forms more dense, but smaller compact growths and resemble lobster tails, and of course, they have a true marisco (seafood) flavor, which imparts the flavor of lobster when cooked in butter and onions.
So, here's what I think we'll do next time we make your recipe: 1. Chop or tear (probably tear the fresh mushroom) into much smaller chunks., 2. Use slightly more scallions, 3. Cut back on all of the egg mixture (we used two beaten Jumbo eggs "whole" and added the recommended yolk to that beaten mixture, and then beat it again). So, we will use a little less egg mixture.
Flavor wise... we need something to make a slightly more pronounced "pop". Maybe a bit more lemon zest or a few drops of lime or lemon? Not sure yet. All in all, we'd like to make this a massively commercial product, so we will have to make a unique product that stands up to the most discerning taste buds.
Sure hope that you can help. Contact me privately if you wish and we can discuss future plans for release of future value added product line.
Thanks again Chef Alan,
Robert Johns
President/Owner
The Growing Company
Jill
Just made these. They were exceptional!!! Thank you
Alan Bergo
Thanks Jill.
Sandrine
Hi Alan,
I’ve been following all your suggestions since I discovered foraging for mushrooms this amazing summer. From drying boletes, making your duxelles to preserve a large collection of honeys (mixed with ever more maitake from the 100 pounds I have eaten, given away, made into broth and dried for future broth. Your techniques for cooking chanterelles and black trumpets and methods to preserve (and not to) for the various kinds of fungi have been an endless resource.
I wanted to thank you today as I look at my next recipe after finding a beautiful large hericium americanus. I can’t wait to try it. Everything else has been great.
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks! Glad things have been working out for you. Did you like the crabcakes? I’ve had some people say they think they’re a bit mild, but they’re supposed to be. The recipes are just a framework for starting.
Caitlin
Is there a reason the ingredient list shows up, but not the recipe itself/steps? Thanks!
Alan Bergo
Thank you so much for pointing this out. I have been having problems with text being dropped from recipes after I switched over from having text to using a widget. It's fixed. Thank you!! A
Linda Morris
Paragraphs 2 and 3, are the same paragraph. Paragraphs 4 and 5, are almost the same.
Alan Bergo
Thanks for catching that Linda, looks like a cache malfunction or some other kind of connection hiccup there. I fixed it.
Lola
Thank you so much for this recipe!
I just made it last night, and it was absolutely phenomenal. I’ve been wanting to make these for some time, and finally found enough Hericium to do so. The consistency and flavor were perfect, and astoundingly similar to crab while highlighting the mushroom in a lovely way.
tiffany s taylor
These are so good, I wonder if you could make the patties ahead of time and then cook them when ready to eat? Kids sports are making it hard to find a good amount of time to cook.
Charlene
This is such a great recipe! We have tried it a few times. They are super rich, but absolutely incredible. Thanks for sharing
Alan Bergo
Glad they worked for you Charlene.
Travis
I found about a kilo while hiking and made them into “crab”cakes. Delicious. A great recipe to showcase the mushrooms subtle flavours and more exciting than just frying them up.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you.
G. Peyton Craighill
I’m happy to see this thread go on for so long, with you continuing to reply. Unusual, these days.
I’ve got a bit of lions mane that I picked yesterday in Rockbridge County, Va, and I’ll be serving it tomorrow night it alongside a fresh venison heart I earned yesterday, helping a friend gut a deer.
I make - often ???? - fantastic crab cakes. In the oven I can do pretty well making a lot. But here I’m cooking only for my wife and I, so proper execution of most anything is easy.
I’m cooking the heart tomorrow. I’m thinking Just cut into the three heart steaks, seasoned and seared, probably w a whiskey cream sauce. Do you think it’s worth it to have these crab cakes as a “turf and turf,” or should I just dry sauté them and serve on the side?
Alan Bergo
Hey G, I would make the crab cakes as a side if you haven't made them before, just to taste them. They're undoubtedly the most popular thing people make with Hericium. I love me some venison heart! Just had heart sliders with slices of backstrap and horseradish a few days ago.
Kevin H
Will try this recipe this week, as it’s just what I was looking for.
If you can’t find lions mane, try growing it yourself. I just tried for the first time and wow! I did eight grow bags with a pound each of hardwood sawdust and ground soy hulls (aka Masters Mix) with three pounds of water. Cooked the bags in a pressure cooker at 15 psi for two hours and then let cool. I inoculated them with lions mane on November 14. One bag is ready to harvest already on Dec 2, probably two to three pounds. Another looks like it should be ready next week.
Alan Bergo
I've been meaning to try growing some in the back 40.
russell j belue
just got some h. coralloides and am about to attempt the crabcakes. We're in East TX. Thanks for such a wonderful site.
Alan Bergo
Enjoy.
Heidi
I just got my first Lion's Mane, well over 1 pound. Will these cakes keep if I make a big batch and freeze some before cooking? Excited to try the recipe!
Alan Bergo
Yes it will, but I much prefer them fresh.
BobKolasa
Just about to make some of these. Wife found a few pounds, back up in a MN North Shore State Park woods. Lots of maples! Been fairly wet of late up there. Should be a good year for Late summer/fall mushrooms.Hit the woods!
Because I’m certain I have more than the two of us can eat, I am going to wrap & freeze some of the cakes in parchment pieces, then a ziplock. Won’t dredge them in the (plain? other?) flour till I cook them. Comments? Thanks for such a great blog!
Dr. Bob
Alan Bergo
Sorry I was pokey getting back to you here-I was tied up overseas. Yes, that will work, and you wouldn't dredge them until you're ready to cook.
Sukhi
Just made these with some farmers market Lions Mane and wow!! So good!! Didn't have Old Bay so I used paprika, garlic powder, cayenne and salt. Served over kale and caramelized onions with some lemony mayo and flaky finishing salt. Thank you so much for the recipe. It was my first experience with Lions Mane - my world is opening up 🙂
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you.
Palate Jack
Chef, glad to see you're still engaged in your blog. And thanks for posting this recipe.
I have had Maryland crab cakes many times, and know they are subtle flavored with a balanced background of bell pepper, parsley, and green onion, not to overdo the delicate crab flavor. Got some gorgeous H. erinaceous from a local grower and looking for something different, found your "crab cakes" recipe. Wow! You nailed it. I followed your method exactly and they came out super-pro and a dead ringer for original crab cakes. I made ring molds out of a 12-liter selzter bottle using scissors, and they worked great. I also found tearing the mushrooms apart to small bits worked well.
Keep 'em coming!
Palate Jack
That should read '1-liter' bottle.
Alan Bergo
Hey there, glad they worked for you. Yes, I re-tooled these last year and I'm pretty pleased. They were good before, but now they're reaaaally good.
Don Dona
Alan: Have used your recipe for the lions mane crabcakes aa number of times. Loved them! My son is a forager, mostly mushrooms. Never really read through the pep talk before the actual heart of the recipe 'til today. Just a quick observation, its "Bush" league Alan. Busch is a beer and Bush league is where the players that can't make the "bigs" play. Have a good one. Love the recipes, Don
Alan Bergo
Thanks Don, I stand corrected. Can you tell I watch a lot of racing? 🙂
Dave
This recipe is insane. I’ve made a lot of mushroom based recipes, but this one completely blew my mind. Thank you so much
Alan Bergo
Thanks Dave, lots of work has gone into it.
Nancy
I made this recipe exactly as instructed and it turned out fantastic. Husband commented that this is now his favorite meal. I made some spicy mayo to go with it and served with a mixed green salad. Perfection!
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Nancy. It’s been tweaked a little over the years but as written it’s my favorite, by far.
Carolina Jones
I only recently discovered this amazing mushroom and was looking for great ways to prepare them. As a 30 year plus vegetarian I find standard fare can get downright boring so this was a godsend. Like one other commenter I read the recipe many times as “sweating mushrooms” was new to me! But I liked the idea of something that would purify the mushroom without making it soggy. I followed the directions to the tee, watched carefully and what emerged was simply sublime! I did use the seasonings and proportions from another food blog and added in my own twists. One recipe said to allow the cakes to chill for a bit and so I did that. I also used flax eggs (1:3 ground flaxseed and water) because I don’t like eggs but know that this needed a binder. I chopped a bit of fresh cilantro instead of parsley from the garden and added just a kiss of smoked paprika to accompany the Old Bay. The results—-freaking phenomenal! Thank you for this amazing recipe. Hope my little adjustments might inspire others. I LOVED crab cakes before becoming a vegetarian, but like many foods crab really has no “flavor”. You’re right chef! It’s all about the seasonings and texture. Taste, adjust, rinse, repeat! Thanks again.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you. Good to know about the flax egg for my vegan readers.
Jean
Good morning, Alan,
This has been a phenomenal year for foraging in Maine. Just his past week I stumbled on not one, but two large clumps of hericium, a d decided to try your crab cake recipe. I didn’t have Old Bay seasoning, and really don’t care for it, so I followed your suggestion and substituted minced fresh cilantro and cayenne pepper flakes. It was delicious. Thank you so much for this.
I also found a recipe for pan fried hericium, with sautéed cherry tomatoes on another site. I think the sautéed or roasted heirlooms would be a great accompaniment to your recipe, and I intend to combine them tonight.
I am also looking forward to your matsutake recipes, and I have located a gold mine of them this fall, too.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Jean. Glad it worked for you. The roasted tomatoes sound like a great compliment.
Jon
These were wonderful. The texture of lions mane is somewhere between scallops and crab, it’s not just hype! I made an XO Mayo for topping and decided next time to add some XO to the mix before forming. Every bit as satisfying as a good crab cake, I was blown away.
Alan Bergo
Glad you like them Jon, XO sauce sounds like a great riff.
Bill B
I use Lion's Mane to make Maryland crab cakes and they work well as a substitute for jumbo lump crab meat. As a born and bred Marylander transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, I was skeptical at first. Just as an FYI, anyone from Maryland knows there are very few ingredients in a Maryland style cake - the meat (Lion's Mane), mayo, cracker crumbs, worcestershire, dijon, chopped parsley and Old Bay That's it. That's all you need and they make great cakes. No need for other fillers.
Alan Bergo
Bill, if only mushrooms had the same umami as crab. I've spent years tweaking this, and the reviews are a testament to how solid it is.
Daniel
Great mushroom and great recipe, wow.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Daniel
Natalie Malinowski
Heart Shaped Crab Cakes- Since I discovered your website this spring, I'm obsessed! I grew up with the general thought of cooking any wild mushroom be morel or shaggy mane is "dice it fry it in butter" that's what every one in our area says. My new years resolution goal for 2021 was being vegetarian so I started to expand my repertoire of wild foraged mushrooms. The idea being...to make the mushrooms the main course instead of the side. Thus I have fell in love with your mushroom blog! I was lucky enough to find 4 large clumps of lions mane the other day, and right away came to your website to get your recommendation on cooking them!
This is the 3rd mushroom recipe I have made following your directions, that has turned out fantastic!!! I love the how to video also! I followed it exactly.
-I squished the water out (which gave them awesome texture)....
-let the mix sit over night ( I THINK THIS REALLY HELPED FLAVOR!) as recommended..,
-and as I didn't have a round cookie cutter ended up using the only cookie cutter I had a heart <3 !!! LOL...
-browned them in my cast iron skillet so they were golden and crispy (wish I could attach a photo)...
I'm not a chef, by any means but even you would be happy with my results 🙂 I'm ecstatic! They are wonderful! I'm wondering if I want to have some in winter when foraging has come to a standstill can I freeze them? Thx a million for the great recipe's!
Alan Bergo
Glad you liked them.
Susana Banana
I made this today using Lion Mane's mushrooms and followed recipe exactly. It taste amazing and I love the meaty texture.
Thank you for the detailed recipe. It was easy to follow and easy to make. Yay!
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Susana.
Jennifer Lockwood
What exactly is "mushroom ketchup"? (sorry if this has already been asked, I did not read through all of the comments).
Alan Bergo
Sorry I'm pokey here. Mushroom ketchup is a nectar of the gods. Tastes a bit like Worcestershire. See my method here. https://foragerchef.com/wild-mushroom-ketchup/
David
Looks delicious!
I’d like to give this a go with some lion’s mane I dried a few weeks ago. Found a big ol’ chunker growing in a Portland city park.
Will the reconstituted LM work ok? Any recommendations?
Alan Bergo
Sorry only fresh mushrooms for this.
Mia
Fantastic recipe! I omitted the bell pepper, added pimenton, used a cookie cutter, drank the mushroom juice, placed the cake over a kale/celery salad with lemon/EVOO dressing, sent pictures to friends and was amazed at how beautiful, tasty and crablike the cake was.
Oh and I was lazy and didn't dredge in flour -- what did I miss out on not having done that? The cake stayed together, there was crispiness and a nice golden color.
The recipe came together fast and was super fun to make. What a treat it was.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Alan Bergo
Try it with them dredged the next time. I'd also recommend the peppers, it's a small amount, but it helps them taste traditional.
Adam
I made these this evening for my wife who absolutely loves crab. I told her that I'd make lion's mane "crab cakes" for her at some point. She got home from work and asked what was for dinner. I showed her the preformed "crab cakes" I prepared. She remarked that we were having crab cakes.
It wasn't until she was mostly finished the second one when she remarked that she expected the crab to fall apart as she was cutting it that I told her there was no crab in them at all. She didn't believe me and after I told her she could look in the trash for a nonexistent empty container of crab meat that she finally relented.
This was my second time having lion's mane (first one was about two weeks ago while visiting friends in another state). Delicious. I won't be forgoing actual crab for all meals, but this was about as tasty as it comes.
Alan Bergo
Adam, glad they worked for you.
Eryn Scott
As a seafood lover that after chemotherapy has developed an anaphylactic reaction to all fish and seafood I am Very thankful for alternative ideas and recipes!!! I tried these Crab Cakes with shredded trumpet mushrooms, and I added some dulse flakes instead of salt when I sauteed them, and a few more shakes to the cake filling along with the old bay. They were delicious!!! I made a remoulade with roasted red pepper, mayo, lemon juice, capers,smoked paprika, a little Dijon mustard, and a few dashes if Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. YUMMMY!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECIPES
Alan Bergo
Glad the cakes worked for you. But even more I’m glad the chemo was a success!
Debbie
Love this recipe! So good and easy to make.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Debbie.
LouJean
I followed your recipe pretty close and it turned out delicious. I’ve learned a little trick for recipes like this that imitate seafood is to add a half teaspoon or so or crumbled nori sheet. And I did do that tonight. Made some tartar sauce and roasted some asparagus. Perfect meal!
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you. Nice tip on the nori sheets!
Sherry
Even though I took some liberties with the recipe (used a flax egg) they turned out beautifully and were delicious!
Alan Bergo
Glad they worked for you.
Tony
A week ago I was fortunate to stumble upon a group of 4-5 moss covered logs, all sprouting H. corralloides! I harvested the ones that were ready, but there were many more just emerging so I'll go back in a couple weeks. We made these crab cakes. They turned out perfectly, and wow! They're as good as any crab cakes made with crab! The remaining Hericiums we sweated, squeezed the water out, then froze them. Is that a reasonable way to preserve them? You mention preserving in a conserve, but I'm afraid vinegar might overpower their mild sweet flavor. Thanks!
Graham
We just harvested a 15lb Lions Mane mushroom in our woods. I feel like I won the lottery. We made a batch of these crab cakes with 1.5lbs of shroom and we enjoyed them so much. Even my 5yo licked his plate. I have some leftovers and I’d like freeze them. Should I freeze them in patty form raw or go ahead and cook them first before freezing? — thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Alan Bergo
You'll need to cook them beforehand, otherwise their taste will be ruined from freezing. Glad it worked for you.
Michelle Kisliuk
Found an enormous monkey's head lion's mane yesterday in central VA. At least three pounds. Today we followed your recipe with some modifications (used a mixed mayo/mustard since I didn't have any mayo), and A1 sauce instead of worschester sauce. Also made a picante tomato sauce with diced tomatoes and hot pepper flakes for the garnish. And we cooked some of the cakes in the air fryer to crispy, and used a rye flour for breading and some packaged stuffing mix for the bread crumbs; SO good!! Thank you so much for the recipe and the tips about sweating and squeezing out the mushroom. We are full and have some left for tomorrow.
Michelle Kisliuk
oh, and also added some avocado oil to replace some of what would have been mayo.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you. I love these.
Le
So good!
Alan Bergo
Glad you liked them.
Rusty
It was my first experience with lion's mane mushrooms (home grown courtesy a gift I received, purchased from Smallhold). They had a few taco recipes using them on their site, but also mentioned making crab cakes with them, and so I had to find a recipe for that and wound up here. I had just two mushrooms, that weighed in at a combined 2 pounds, so I made a double recipe. They were delicious and enjoyed by all, topped with lemon squeezings and/or a remoulade sauce I made. The only thing I'd note is that I spent about three hours getting them pulled apart into a crab like texture. I'm sure it can be done more efficiently than I managed, but the first time you make it, don't look at the 30 minute prep and 15 minute cooking time and start just 45 minutes before you want people fed. I started 4 hours ahead (and made the remoulade before that), and we ate about 10 minutes late while I was still cooking the last half of the batch.
Alan Bergo
Glad you liked them. The first time you make something is always a learning curve, but I'm going to be honest here: 3 hours is way too much time and is not representative of what most people experience making this, especially if they only use a pound of mushrooms. Pulling the mushrooms apart should only take a few minutes and it doesn't have to be perfect. You can roughly chop the mushrooms if you really want to save time.