Mushroom bacon with foraged wild oysters. Vegan, keto and oven-fried.

Super short but oh-so-delicious post for you today. 

Oyster. Mushroom. Bacon.

It's salty. It's savory. It's blackened, but not smoked.  It's both crisp and chewy. 

Oven roasting or grilling oyster mushrooms has long been my favorite way to prepare them fresh. They just get so super umami over high heat.

The middle of the caps are the most meaty in terms of texture, and really showcase the best mushroom flavor, but the most delectible bits are always the outer edges. Those edges, thin fleshed and naturally drier, get crispy brown or blackened, almost like deep fried. 

I came upon this decent-sized haul of winter oyster mushrooms yesterday, while hunting for pecans. The caps were enormous, 6 to 12 inches across, and very thick in the middle. In the summer, oysters at this level of maturity would be fully infested with bugs, but because this is the winter they were flawless  inside, very fresh, and exceedingly dense: full of moisture. 

That said, mature oyster mushrooms that have already dropped their spores tend to be a little less flavorful than when they are younger and still have in-rolled edges. 

With that in mind, I was thinking about ways to make the entire mushroom more like the crispy/oven fried bits, with less of the chewy/meatiness. I decided to salt them and let them sit and drain for a while, desiccating the mushrooms somewhat, so that the whole thing would crisp up and get caramelized. This added to the total prep time, but as I had plenty else to do -- and the mushrooms were just kinda sitting around--it worked out great. 

Keto, vegan oyster mushroom bacon

2 lbs oyster mushrooms, caps whole or nearly so
1/2 cup olive oil or high-heat oil of your choice
1 tbs. kosher salt
3 tbs. smoked paprika
2 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground celery seed

1. Rinse your mushrooms, cleaning off any debris, and lightly pat dry -- leaving them still slightly damp. 
2. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt, paprika, garlic powder, celery seed and black pepper and set in a colander or on layers of paper towel to drain. The salt will help draw the moisture out of the mushrooms, encouraging them to really crisp up in the oven. Let sit for 40-60 minutes. 
3. When the mushrooms are ready (they should be about 3/4 the size they were before, with a lot of water having been drawn out of them, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
4. Arrange the mushroom caps on a foil-coated baking sheet, they shouldn't touch or overlap each other. 
5. Drizzle with olive oil, flip and drizzle the other side as well. Brush both sides to coat. 
6. Bake at 400 for 30-60 mins, depending on the cap thickness. After that, check and see if your caps are crispy fried. If your caps are thick, you will need to flip them and keep them in for another 15-30 minutes. 
7. Enjoy however you would bacon!

These mushrooms are low-carb, low-fat, keto, vegan and vegetarian, and paleo. They can be served as a side dish, snack or main course. The only real thing to watch out for are high amounts of salt. 

Unrelated note, here are some of the things I foraged yesterday: 

The velvet foot or velvet shank mushroom: Flammulina velutipes. Identification tips and toxic look-a-likes

Caution: this is NOT A BEGINNER's mushroom.

This mushroom cannot be positively identified by observing features alone. A spore print must be made for positive identification. This mushroom has many lookalikes, some of which are deadly, others will make you sick. Use the following tips as a guideline only, but confirmer your identification with other reliable sources and a trusted local expert.

As always, it's your responsibility to make 100% sure of any while plant or mushroom you consume.

Identification difficulty level: Intermediate

Flammulina velutipes, commonly known as the velvet foot, velvet shank, velvet stem, or winter mushroom, is officially a cold-weather fruiting fungus, which can be harvested even in the dead of winter in some places. This makes it a great find for winter survivalists, or for any forager who just can't get enough, and wants to hunt year round.

Cultivated Flammulina velutipes, called enoki mushrooms.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia user Chris 73, via Wikipedia Commons

Do you know the enoki mushroom?

If you know the skinny white enoki mushrooms you buy in the store, then you actually know the velvet shank, kind of. The enoki is also Flammulina velutipes, but it's cultivated in very specific ways, to make it look, and in many ways taste, like a different mushroom. By growing it in complete darkness, it turns white instead of cinnamon brown, and forcing the stems to grow long and skinny keeps them tender, where in the wild they are tough and chewy. 

Despite the more tender texture of the cultivated variety, I GREATLY prefer the stronger, more umami flavor of the wild version. When cultivated they become tender and mild, but wild they are a very exciting mushroom, with a very meaty texture and a buttery, nutty flavor. 

Keep reading to learn more on how to accurately identify the velvet foot mushroom, and avoid the very similar-looking, DEADLY Galerina.