Wanted to mention I'd recently came across some chicken of the woods mushrooms and I chopped them up and put them in pasta. I did not forage these and don't recommend that for anyone unfamiliar with mushrooms, but I did buy them from a local organic grocer.
I'd read that they have a flavor like chicken but wanted to let you know that is not entirely true.
I have had hen of the woods mushrooms before and those are different as well.
Both of those are not technically mushrooms but a type of fungus related to wood ears that are often used in Chinese cooking and hot and sour soup.
Wood ears are dark in appearance and after soaking have a nice woodsy brown color. The texture is a bit rubbery so they get thinly sliced, and they have an earthy flavor. Very good in soups and stir-fries.
Hen of the woods are a type of off white color and are quite like mushrooms but with a deeper more earthy flavor. I use them with mushrooms interchangably.
But the chicken of the woods have a yellow appearance kind of like chanterelles. And when I first saw them I thought they were chanterelles but where those have a definite mushroom stem, the chicken of the woods have no stems since they grow right out of tree bark in a ruffly pattern.
But contrary to having a chicken flavor (which is incorrect) they actually have the texture of cooked chicken after they are chopped or sliced and cooked. So they are very good as a vegan alternative to chicken. They also have an earthy flavor and the color does remind of chicken as well. Not that vegans want anything that reminds of meat (for ethical reasons) but for those eating for health reasons who otherwise enjoy meat will like this a lot.
Excellent in the pasta I made and would be good in stir-fries, fajitas or anything that uses sliced chicken or meat.
I'm afraid of eating any mushrooms picked outdoors, I know of an Italian family that goes mushroom picking all the time, I'm sure they know their mushrooms well, you would have to