• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Species Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Red Cinnabar
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
        • Fairy Rings
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Elderberry
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • The Wild Harvest
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Lobster Mushroom CakesNothings says a good morning like a bag of giant lobster mushrooms. Their size can be stunning, along with their heartiness against bugs. But, when push comes to shove, they can be bland simply fried up in a pan, compared with something like a morel or a chanterelle which can be at their best cooked simply.

I dry plenty throughout the year since it unlocks more of their aroma, but there are some other ways to concentrate their flavor. These cakes are a great method I came up with this year, for just that purpose.

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Shredding the lobsters with a box grater.

Basically, one day I had a discussion with my line cooks about how just cooking at the stove Isn’t enough. I expect them to be creative, experiment, and contribute to menu development, since it makes them more vested in the food, and also helps them learn. A couple days later one of them came in early to play with some vegetables and pickles, one of the things he made were little cakes of shredded zucchini. That’s when I thought of making these.

You see, when I make a cake of shredded vegetables, I salt them lightly beforehand. (A little technique I learned from Julia Child) The salt allows them to release water, which would make the batter loose. Afterwords I squeeze out the water, season the the vegetables with salt, herbs, egg, and a little bit of a binder like flour.

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Squeeze out the water, then mix with flour, herbs, and egg.

Getting to the point, the bulk of a lobster mushrooom’s weight is made up of…water. Removing some of that water, like when the mushrooms are dehydrated, concentrates their flavor. Salting shredded mushrooms, then squeezing out the water, will have a similar effect of concentrating their flavor.

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Fry gently, and be careful flipping until they’re browned and the egg has coagulated.

Needless to say, these crispy fried mushroom cakes are fantastic. Try them next time you have a bunch.

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Lobster Mushroom Cakes
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Lobster Mushroom Cakes

Yield: 4-6 latkes, enough to serve 2-4 people as an appetizer or component of an entree
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Crabcakes, Lobster Mushroom, Mushroom cakes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb fresh lobster mushrooms trimmed, cleaned, and washed if necessary
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste if needed
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup green onion trimmed and diced 1/4 inch
  • 1 tablespoon fresh sliced chives
  • 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1 whole large egg plus one egg yolk
  • Clarified butter animal lard, oil, or a combination, as needed for sauteing the cakes

Instructions

  • Shred the lobster mushrooms on a box grater or through the shredding attachment on a food processor. Mix the shredded mushrooms thoroughly with the salt, then allow to sit for 10 minutes so the salt can draw out their water. Squeeze the shredded mushrooms to remove as much water as possible, then mix with the remaining ingredients except the cooking fat.
  • In a nonstick or seasoned cast iron pan, heat a tablespoon or two of the fat until hot and shimmering. Working in batches, take a couple heaping tablespoons of the mushroom mixture and form into cakes, then fry a few minutes on each side slowly, and gently, until golden brown, flip and repeat, then serve immediately.
  • If you're making a large batch, finished cakes can be held in a warm oven on a cookie rack until the others are done.

Video

Notes

You can vary these any number of ways, like using a blend of big mushrooms like firm boletes or polypores, and the herbs can be tweaked to use what you have on hand, adding a little grated parmesan or ground, dried lobster mushrooms wouldn't hurt either. The proportions in the basic recipe are solid though, and won't let you down.
They're excellent served with eggs, a little reduced tomato sauce, flavored mayonnaise, a lemon wedge, your favorite condiment, or just straight out of the pan.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « Ischnoderma with Beef, Peppers and Rice
Next Post: Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wiltshirefoodie

    January 2, 2016 at 3:41 am

    Mmm these look great. We dont have lobster mushrooms here in the UK so I’ll have to think of a substitute – given that you grate them they are obviously very firm?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 5, 2016 at 4:19 pm

      King oysters would work, as would abalone mushrooms.

      Reply
  2. Claudia Marieb

    August 12, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    I just made these, my first time cooking with lobster mushrooms, and they are YUM. thank you!

    Reply
  3. Megan

    October 11, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    My boyfriend found like 10 lobsters and a friend sent us this awesome recipe.. we are almost done making a batch.. we even scouted out the recipe ingredients to a T.. made three extra trips to the store ha ha cant wait to try them! We are here in oregon where you can find so many lobsters

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 12, 2020 at 10:27 am

      Good deal Megan, you’ll love them.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Lobster Mushroom Hunt + Campfire Cooking says:
    December 30, 2015 at 10:49 am

    […] For the full recipe check out my other post on lobster mushroom cakes. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Alan Bergo Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

Got treated to a home cooked meal of big lamb meat Got treated to a home cooked meal of big lamb meatballs from the Icelandic lambs @shepherdsongfarm gave us. 

It’s been a while since I had fist-size meatballs. They reminded me of dinners I had with Grandpa at Yarussos in St. Paul, where you got one meatball to rule them all on top of your spaghetti and red gravy. 

Obv I had to make some with venison, wild rice, ramps, and bergamot. The wild rice is fun. Hefty. 

Also forgot to oil my hands, like a chump. 🙄

#ballingonabudget #meatballs #naptime #venison #rampleaves #comfortfoods #rusticfood #monardafistulosa
Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun var Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun variation I did on the house dessert of a little restaurant I was at for a time. 

Don’t be surprised if you smell like maple syrup a few hours after eating it. Using ground dried golden chanterelles is another variation that’s on my list to try. 

Link in bio to see how to make your own. 

#candycaps #treslechescake #myteethfellout #wildmushrooms #wildfoodlove
ARISE #fungimancer #frostbite #morels #tisthes ARISE 

 #fungimancer 
#frostbite #morels #tistheseason #mushroomhunting #winter #offseasontraining
Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your suppo Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your support with the first line of spirits @ida_graves_distillery and I collaborated on. 

Brock did a great job wrangling the wild things, and we have plenty of fun ideas in store (think aging nocino in barrels, new flavor combos, etc). If you’re in the Twin Cities and still need some, the amaro is #soldout but @ombibulousmn has nocino, and should have the spruce  liquor (goes down like pine gin) soon. Thank you!

#distillery #foragedcocktails #nocino #craftspirits #drinkatree #mnspirits #smallbatch #godscountry
Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too s Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too specific a term for me—I don’t limit myself to vehicular-harvested meat. 

However you feel about the topic, grab some popcorn and head over to the comment section on my blog (link in bio) for the 🔥personal stories from readers have shared from around the world. 

There’s the kid who brought home a nutria after school, a wife getting 4 deer with the same car, a train hitting a herd of elk, a bear named squish, living in a house with weasels, and more. 

#budgetgourmet #gleaning #scavenging #meatismeat #roadkill #freefoods #finderskeepers #wastenotwantnot
Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberr Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberry cultivars (3 types!) on me before the last snowfall and I honestly don’t even know where to start after processing them. I’d already made jams and hot sauce already and I have enough for a year. 😅

Great time to practice the cold-juice which ensures the juice isn’t bitter. 

Anyone else have any ideas? 

You can still find some on the shrubs if the birds didn’t get them up by the north shore. 

#highbushcranberry #winterforaging #birdberries #sweetnectar #foragerproblems #juiceme #embarassmentofriches #wildfoodlove
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.