Another Mushroom Adventure: Cooking Chicken of the Woods

I finally understand why this mushroom is called Chicken of the woods!

I cut it in half before thinking of posting about this new discovery! So bright, right?

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So we went hiking a couple days ago in Bear Mountain State Park. It was a short 2 hour, beautiful hike through the forest. We were heading for Doodletown, an old ghost town settled by miners and loggers back in the late 1700's.

Foraging in a state park...

On the way up to this ghost town, my friend pointed to a tree, yelled Chicken of the Woods and ran up the hill to take a closer look.

Naturally I followed her and said:

You know, if you guys weren't around I'd grab the whole thing!

There wasn't all that much growing there, others had already served themselves. I pulled out my trusty Opinel (just an amazing little knife 😊) and so did my friend.

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I have absolutely no idea if we were braking the law, so we put it away in a container in my backback before anyone could see!!!

Cooking Chicken of the Woods

I asked a friend and he said to cook it like any other mushroom... sauté in butter and garlic, of course!

The internet basically said the same thing, so after triple checking, twice that we had in deed harvested an edible mushroom we prepared it for the pan!

• One look alike (with a bit of imagination) is the Chanterelle, but this would be only a delicious mistake as it is another choice mushroom to eat.

• The other would be the Jack-o-Lantern mushroom and it is poisonous. Omphalotus olearius and other Omphalotus species contain the toxin illudin S, and are poisonous to humans. While not lethal, consuming this mushroom leads to very severe cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. Source. It has guills, Chicken of the Woods does not.

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So, here's what I did:

1. I cut about a piece off the cap to save for my wife so she could also try it later (she was at work!).

2. Chopped two cloves of garlic.

3. Sliced the mushroom.

4. Melted some good old salted Irish butter. I will put more next time!

5. Lowered the temperature sautéed the mushrooms for about 10 minutes.

6. At the end I added the garlic (thouhg about half of it wnet into a salad...!).

7. For the very last step, I added a splash or white wine, covered the pan and let it simmer for 30 seconds or so, turned it off, and let it sit a few minutes.

Back to the idea of understanding the name Chicken of the Woods. It actually kind of tastes like chicken, but mostly it feels like chicken. My dad agreed about it tasting like a bird 😄. What an incredible mushroom, it was really delicious and I would love to have it again as soon as possible!!!

Thank you dear world for giving us such amazing food, you truly teach me and amaze me everyday. Thank you, thank you, I love you!

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