As a big fan of mushrooms, king oyster mushroom is always on the top of my ingredient list for either vegetarian or regular dishes. It is widely loved because the aroma and texture.
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!
How to cut King Oyster Mushrooms
Remove the hard end of the mushrooms.
Length cutting | place the mushroom horizontally. Then slice the king oyster mushrooms around 0.2 cm in thickness.
abalone like cutting| cut the mushroom into 1cm to 1.5cm thickness round cylinders. make some cross cutting on both side of the cylinders. This can fasten the cooking process and make the mushrooms absorb more flavors from the sauce and seasonings.
King Oyster Mushroom Recipes
King oyster mushroom can be thin sliced for pan-frying or you can make a lovely flower cutting for it. Followings are some of the delicious king oyster mushroom recipes.
King oyster mushroom can be used to replace chicken to make a lovely kung pao mushroom or mix with a lovely sauce to make a salad. Or it can be mixed with other mushrooms a make a lovely hot pot style mushroom pot.
I also included a very basic pan-fried king oyster mushroom with black pepper here. Pan-fried slices king oyster mushroom has a barbecue flavor. More crisper than this abalone like cutting. The abalone like pan fried king oyster mushroom is soft inside and thus creating a different texture. Remember to try both to find the favorite way.
Black pepper pan-fried king oyster mushroom
Ingredients
- 2 King oyster mushrooms
- 1 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil or butter
- pinch of salt
- dash ground pepper
- cumin powder , optional
Instructions
- Remove the hard ends of the king oyster mushrooms. Place the mushroom horizontally. Then slice the king oyster mushrooms around 0.2 cm in thickness.
- Add around 1 tablespoon of oil in pan and fry the slices until browned on both sides.
- Sprinkle ground black pepper, salt and cumin powder.
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