This recipe is about doing something creative with a bit of an obscure winter mushroom: Black Witch’s butter (Exidia glandulosa). It is not exactly known as a mushroom with high culinary value, it can however be used to create a vegan bacon substitute. Its neutral taste and soft texture lend it self well for this application.
The mushroom can be found all year round, mostly on oak trees. However, the ideal season for it is in the winter, when there is not much else. Black Witch’s butter can survive frost as you ca see on the picture below.
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Witch’s bacon
Servings: 100 grams
Equipment
- 1 Cutting knife
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Food dehydrator or oven
- 1 Sauce pan
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 bowl
- Kitchen paper
Ingredients
Marinade
- 3 tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Liquid smoke
- 2 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 0.5 tbsp Garlic powder
- 0.5 tbsp Smoked parpika powder
- 1 tsp MSG
Mushrooms
- 100 Gram Fresh black witch's butter
- 50 Gram Corn starch
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Wash the mushrooms well and slice them into thin strips.
- Put the mushrooms in a food dehydrator or oven at the lowest temperature and dry over night (around 12h).
- Mix all the ingredients of the marinade in a sauce pan, add the mushrooms and a bit of water such that the mushrooms are covered.
- Bring to a boil and gently boil until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
- Add corn starch to a bowl and take the mushrooms out of the remaining liquid and add them to the bowl.
- Toss the mushrooms around until they are completely covered with starch.
- Add a couple of table spoons of oil to a frying pan. Heat the oil and fry the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they are golden / dark brown on all sides.
- Take them out of the pan and put on a kitchen paper. After a couple of minutes they will become quite crispy.
Notes
Alternatively wood ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) mushrooms can be used as they have similar properties.
