So there's a new fungus farm in town, and twice now symbol has brought home delicious mushrooms from them. The first time round I made a nice pasta dish with them (which did not, sadly, make it into photographs). This time they came home with a recipe for crab-cake-style fried patties, which I prepared as written.

They were tasty, but if I have one complaint it's that the batter, prepared to direction, was pretty dry and tended to self-destruct in the pan when flipped, so instead of four patties we got two and a half patties and a bunch of tasty mushroom chaff. If making it again I'd probably add another egg to help it cohere.

The recipe suggests serving with tartar sauce, which I think would be delicious but which, sadly, we do not have. The kidlet had one with ketchup and thought it was delicious — in fact, both this and the mushroom pasta were hits with her! Historically she's detested mushrooms, but she loves the mushrooms from Noki Farms, and said of this one that they would make an excellent meat replacement.

Bear's Head Fungus Cakes

Noki Farms

Ingredients

• 220g bear's head (or lion's mane, or both) fungus
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp mayo
• 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
• ¾ tsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp each salt and pepper
• ½ C panko
• greens, lemon wedges, and tartar sauce for serving

Directions

1. Tear mushrooms into thin flakes, then press firmly to remove liquid and set aside to dry.
2. In a large bowl, combine onion, egg, mayo, Worchestershire sauce, Old Bay, mustard, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir in mushrooms and panko.
4. Form into four round, flat patties.
5. Cook in a skillet in a bit of oil over medium-high heat.
6. Serve with greens, lemon, and tartar sauce.

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