I used to only pick or purchase lobster mushrooms for restaurant use that were totally red. I would turn away pickers trying to sell shrooms that didn’t fit the textbook description, having a little more white to red, or a different smell-saying that their lobsters weren’t “parasitized enough”. Another chef had told me to be…
Lobster Mushrooms
A fascinating creation of nature, lobster mushrooms are the result of a fungus parisitizing Russula and/or Lactarius mushrooms that changes their shape, improves their flavor, and gives them a bright red-orange color. These are incredibly versatile mushrooms, and highly appreciated by chefs and sold commercially in large quantities. They can also be found in large quantities by you.
If you're new to lobsters, check out my intro to lobster mushrooms. If you have some you'd like to cook, try my lobster mushroom cakes or lobster rolls first and branch out from there.
Lobster Mushroom Terrine
After our last hunt for lobster mushrooms I started getting to work on some recipes, the first one being this fun terrine. If you’re a mushroom hunter yourself, you know that your fridge can easily get cramped from storing shrooms, so that was a big part of the inspiration for this. The other idea was…
The Hills Have Lobster Mushrooms
It’s misty and quiet at 6 am, and we’re all alone. After a couple hours in the car, we know right where were going when we hit the trail: a patch of land gouged with ravines, and rich with mixed aspen, maple, and white oak. We’ve arrived at the home of one of our favorite…
Lobster Mushroom Crusted Walleye, Winter Wild Rice
Wondering what to do with all those dried lobster mushrooms? Here’s a great technique. At a restaurant I used to work at, the signature dish was veal tenderloin crusted with ground porcini and espresso. The first night I did a stage trying to get a job, they offered me some chow, whatever I wanted off…
Lobster Mushroom-Entoloma Manhattan Clam Chowder
Lobster mushrooms are a joy to work with in the kitchen. I have cooked many varieties of mushrooms, and have plenty of favorites, but there’s just something awesome about lobsters. They have what you could describe as a “mushroomy” flavor, but there is something more, something oceanic, it’s subtle, but it’s there. Their texture sets…
Dried Mushroom Duxelles
One of the simplest, and most approachable recipes. A duxelles is a classic way of using mushrooms, it involves cooking a bit of shallot (or ramps!) in a pan, then adding mushrooms and cooking them down in their own liquid the exude, adding some herbs, then chopping them finely. As one of the most delightful…
Lobster Mushroom Bisque
The other day my friend asked if I would help him prep some things for a fancy dinner he was having this weekend. Even in the Winter, I have no shortage of toys laying around, and it’s a great time to use up the bounty of dried Lobster Mushrooms from the past year. I’d been…
Lobster Mushrooms
The story of the lobster mushroom is an interesting one. If you noticed they don’t look like typical stem-cap-gill mushrooms, you’d be right. Well, about half right. Lobsters are actually a mushroom that get parasitized by another fungus, called Hypomyces. The Hypomyces fungus seems to infect areas where Russula and Lactarius mushrooms grow, causing them…
