Laetiporus sulphureus better known as Chicken of the woods is a fungus that is edible and as you can guess it got its common name because when they are cooked the mushrooms are juicy and succulent, and meaty with a slightly lemony flavor that many have compared to taste like chicken, lobster or crab. This mushroom is also really easy to identify, perfect for beginner foragers.
It is very easy to identify with its orange or sulfur-yellow color, it comes from a small group of soft-fleshed polypores. You may be asking what soft-fleshed polypores are; They are fungi soft enough to tear apart, as some that grow on trees are hard almost like wood. The Laetiporus has a white pore print. It does not have a stem, instead, the caps grow in large brackets that are fan-shaped that can be smooth or wrinkled. The fungi grow overlapping each other. They are individual "shelves" from 2-10 inches across and up to 10 inches long.
They grow mostly in North America, always found growing on the base or on dead trees, never on the ground or alone. Why you will only find them on dead hardwood trees is because they are parasitic and feed on the trees which causes the trees to rot.
Another very important thing to note is to never consume chicken of the woods if it's been growing on yews, conifers, or eucalyptus as the fungi might have absorbed some of the oils from these types of trees, which can cause serious harm. Only harvest from ones that have been growing on deciduous trees.
The season they grow is from summer to autumn but some of the species can grow all year through the winter.
Before eating a lot of it, try a little bit that's been cooked as in some people causes gastric issues, so it's better to test it first. Also, make sure you clean it very well before cooking to remove all bacteria.
Fried chicken of the woods
Ingredients
-4 2 oz pieces of young chicken of the woods, the size of a small fist. Just imagine it's chicken
-All-purpose flour, as needed for breading, roughly 1 cup
-kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
-1 generous pinch of sweet paprika
-1 tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
-3 eggs for breading
-6 Tbsp Clarified butter or ghee, for cooking or substitute a combination of cooking oil and unsalted butter
-A few sprigs of fresh thyme optional
-Small clove of garlic crushed lightly with the back of a knife optional
-Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Take your pieces of chicken mushrooms and trim off the tough part where the stem starts to attach to the tree. Wash and dry the mushrooms well, which will help seasonings adhere.
- Season the flour with a good pinch of salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne to taste (go easy on the cayenne). Toss the mushrooms first in flour, then in egg, then in flour again.*
- Heat a pan with 1/4 cup cooking oil, as well as 2 tbsp unsalted butter. Add your breaded chicken mushrooms, the crushed clove of garlic, and the thyme.
- Cook the chicken of the woods until they are golden brown on each side, about 4-5 minutes, adding extra oil if the pan gets dry, then blot the mushrooms on a paper towel quickly to weep excess oil, sprinkle with a little salt to finish and serve immediately.
This recipe is from Forage Chef and I recommend checking out their amazing blog!
https://foragerchef.com/chicken-fried-chicken-of-the-woods/