Lion’s mane crab cakes.

Lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus) has a fibrous structure that pulls apart into strands with the same look and bite as picked crab. What it also has is a great deal of water, and a crab cake made with wet mushroom will collapse in the pan.

So: cook first, squeeze hard, then bind. Everything else is a standard crab cake.

What you need

Mushrooms

• 1 lb lion’s mane, torn into rough shreds
• 1 tbsp butter

Binding

• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• ¾ cup panko, plus more for coating
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 scallions, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
• Salt, pepper

To fry & serve

• 3 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil
• Lemon wedges
• Tartare or remoulade

Method

1. Tear the block into rough shreds, pulling the spines apart rather than cutting. Trim any substrate from the base.
2. Dry-cook the mushroom. Hot pan, no fat, 6–8 minutes, pressing down with a spatula. You will hear and see the water leave. Then add the butter for 2 minutes more.
3. Cool, then SQUEEZE. Wrap the cooked mushroom in a clean towel and wring it out hard over the sink. You will be surprised how much comes out. This is the step that decides whether the cakes hold.
4. Pull the squeezed mushroom apart into strands with your fingers so it resembles picked crab.
5. Mix the binding ingredients in a bowl, then fold the mushroom through gently — you want to keep the strands intact rather than mash them.
6. Shape 6 cakes, about an inch thick, coat lightly in extra panko, and chill 15 minutes. Chilling is not optional; warm cakes break.
7. Fry in butter and oil, 3–4 minutes a side over medium heat, until deep golden. Serve with lemon and tartare.

The squeeze, again

Lion’s mane is a sponge. A pound of it holds a startling amount of water, and a cake bound around that water will steam itself apart in the pan. Cook it, cool it enough to handle, then wring it out in a towel like you are drying spinach. If the mixture feels wet when you shape it, squeeze more.

If it squeaks in the pan, it is still full of water and undercooked. Cook past the squeak — always, in every lion’s mane recipe.

Chilling and holding

Fifteen minutes in the fridge lets the panko hydrate and the fat firm up, which is what holds the cake together for the first minute in the pan. Shaped cakes keep two days chilled and fry from cold, which makes this a good make-ahead dish.

Why Old Bay

Because the seasoning is doing the “crab” work as much as the texture is. Old Bay, lemon, mayonnaise and mustard is the flavour profile people recognise. Without it you have a very good mushroom cake, which is a different — still excellent — dish.

Common questions