Pink oyster mushroom bacon.

The reason this recipe works is species selection, not seasoning. Pink oyster (Pleurotus djamor) has a fibrous structure that separates into strands rather than staying in slabs, and it takes an enormous amount of heat before it gives up. Crisp it hard and you get something structurally close to bacon: brittle edges, chewy centre.

It is also the best possible use for a species that only lasts two or three days — a jar of this keeps a week and gets put on everything.

What you need

Mushrooms

• 1 lb pink oyster mushrooms, torn into strips

Marinade

• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¾ tsp fine salt
• Plenty of black pepper
• ¼ tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Method

1. Tear into strips along the grain of the ruffles — roughly bacon-width, about half an inch. Thicker strips stay chewy; thinner ones go to crisps. A mix of both is best.
2. Whisk the marinade and toss the strips through it. Every piece should be glossy but not sitting in liquid.
3. Heat the oven to 400°F. Spread the strips on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a single layer with space between them.
4. Roast 15 minutes, then turn each piece and rearrange — the ones at the edges cook faster.
5. Roast another 8–12 minutes, watching closely from minute 20. You want the edges genuinely dark and brittle. They will look overdone before they are done.
6. Cool on the pan. They crisp further as they cool — judging doneness while hot is how people end up with limp mushroom bacon.

The mistake everyone makes

Pulling them too early. Undercooked pink oyster is tough and slightly sour; properly crisped it is one of the best textures in the fungal kingdom. Go two minutes past the point where you get nervous. The colour will cook out to a deep tan-orange either way — nothing keeps them pink, so don’t use colour as your guide.

The other species that takes this treatment is maitake, torn into thin fronds. It gives a lacier, more delicate crisp.

Keeping it

A week in a sealed jar at room temperature, if it stays genuinely dry. Any bend or chew on day three means it needed longer in the oven — re-crisp at 400°F for five minutes. This is also the answer to a pink oyster order you cannot get through in time; see reviving limp mushrooms.

What to do with it

Crumbled over a carbonara. In a BLT. On a baked potato with sour cream. Through a Cobb salad. Or, most honestly, standing at the counter eating it out of the jar.

Common questions