King oyster mushroom（Pleurotus eryngii) belongs to the family of oyster mushroom and it is the largest one. Oyster mushroom group is a group of edible fungus with oyster like capes. Most of the oyster mushrooms have large cap and short steam, grow in clusters. While king oyster mushrooms is very special because it has a large stem. King oyster mushroom is a very popular ingredient in Asian cuisines including Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
We eat this type of mushrooms for years and it get a very lovely name in Chinese“杏鲍菇”indicating the almond like aroma and abalone flavor. In my mind, it is one of the best ingredient for vegetarian diet.

The most popular feature of king oyster mushroom is the unique meaty texture. It is quite plain and tasteless with just a little aroma when raw. But after cooked, it can present a lovely umami flavor, but less stronger than shiitake mushrooms and a lovely meaty texture. Depending on the cooking method, it can taste like abalone or like chicken.

King oyster mushroom has a large and firm stem and that's the part for eating. Only the super hard ends should be removed and all the remaining parts is edible. King oyster mushrooms can be used in pan frying, soups, salad. It can be sliced as thin pieces or cut like abalone flower cutting.

To prepare king oyster mushrooms, only cut the hard very firm or dirty ends.
For cleaning, if your king oyster mushrooms are good in quality, only wash the ends. However if a whole cleaning is needed emotionally, quickly rinsing it in running water. Don't soak the mushrooms!