Oyster mushroom

Thin flesh, fast cook, so the garlic goes in last or it burns black.

Fat clings to the frilled edges and takes them past floppy into crisp.

A splash at the end, straight onto the hot pan, so it caramelises.

The mushroom is quiet. Chilli fat gives it somewhere to hide.

Green bitterness over a fungus that has none of its own.

Acid pulls the faint shellfish note forward before it disappears.

Deglaze fast; the caps hold no water and the pan goes dry quickly.

The cap makes anisaldehyde, the bulb anethole. The mushroom aniseed stops being an accident.

Same trick as fennel with more perfume and less crunch.

A pinch, toasted, confirms the note the mushroom only hints at.

It borrowed the name. Borrow the brine back and the joke lands.

Seaweed supplies the iodine the mushroom only gestures at.

Safranal and mushroom ketones both go hay-like. Cook them in the same fat.

Juniper, anise, coriander seed. Deglaze with it and the botanicals land.