I never met a mushroom I didn’t like, but that may no longer be true after my efforts with the King Trumpet mushrooms I bought at the farmer’s market this past weekend. I decided to have a go at slicing and sauteing them simply (evoo, shallot, garlic, thyme, sage, white wine, dab of butter a the end). They were extremely dense and a tad rubbery. Lessons were learned and I was underwhelmed – but still intrigued!
What is your favorite way to cook and serve these things? I had an idea about using them in quesadillas because they are so meaty but I should probably try a well-vetted recipe next.
I go straight to sautéing these in oil (and s+p). Don’t shy away from medium high to high heat. You want them to brown up, almost like bacon. Then garlic and butter when you are close to done.
The texture will be different not only based on how you cook them, but also how they are sliced - long vs across.
When I’m incorporating them as an element, I like to slice into wide matchsticks / batons - they cook well and are easy to chew.
For yakitori style, I usually slice them lengthwise for the visual - needs a knife while eating then.
“Scallops” are actually my least favorite way to slice - they are small enough to make you think you can pop it whole, but chewy because of the cut across (and they collapse in the center because of fluid loss). I’ll do it this way for yakitori sometimes too, but again a knife is needed while eating.
Your issue seems to be the texture, but do you like the taste?
The stems are indeed a bit rubbery, the caps are prized but it’s not common to hear someone eats only the caps of king oyster/trumpet mushrooms. Try both separately for the texture test.
I like these mushrooms a lot and eat them all the time as I eat meat sparingly. They are versatile and suitable in all kinds of preps.
Thank you for these tips! I like the idea of the treatment for the stems, I will do that the next time I try them. I had just sliced them long ways – so each bite had a bit of cap and a lot of stem. Looked great on the plate but that was all!
I eat these regularly and I always slice off some of the stem at the base–I only find that portion rubbery. I do keep these bits for soup stock, so no waste of expensive mushrooms!
I usually only pan-fry them, so I am surprised the bit of liquid you added did not sufficiently tenderize them. It could just be variation, of course larger ones may be more tough.
I often use them in Mexican dishes–especially good in tacos.
I was thinking of trying them in quesadillas! Tacos sound great, too. Yes, they were big honkin’ mushrooms so I think I need to go for smaller ones next time.
I am a fan of - and have been even though this method is out of vogue these days - fried mushrooms. And doing long slices of trumpets, batter, and deep fry is delicious. IMHO. Smaller trumpets I just do whole.
Yes for those big ones, I slice about an inch off the bottom–it will almost have a spongy appearance inside and you’ll get where you can tell just where to slice after a couple times. They go into a ziplock bag of mushroom trimmings in my freezer.
I love them. They are great in thick slices, “scored” criss-cross, brushed with soy sauce and then grilled. Really dense, meaty mushroom that doesn’t have the shrinkage issue so many of them have
