Campfire Giant Puffball Steaks (Jeff's)
Grilling · Mushrooms · Quick & Easy · Side Dish · Vegetarian · Wild and Foraged Foods
A giant puffball about the size of a soccer ball turned up at the edge of a pine grove above the Maple River in central Michigan in late September 2026, while I was on a fishing trip. I sliced it into slabs, dipped each one in melted butter with my SPG stirred in, and cooked them straight on the grate over the campfire. This is that method.
A giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) is a big white ball lying in the grass, and while it is young it has firm, pure white flesh with a texture somewhere between tofu and a marshmallow. On its own it tastes mild. Butter, salt, pepper and garlic, plus smoke and char from an open grate, are what make it good.
⚠ Slice every puffball top to bottom and check it before cooking. It must be pure white and uniform all the way through. Any outline of a cap or gills inside means a deadly Amanita egg. Yellow, olive or brown flesh means it is too old. The Mushrooms dive covers this in full, and wild mushrooms are eaten at your own risk.
Ingredients
- 1 young giant puffball, firm and pure white inside
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, or more for a big puffball
- 1 to 2 tablespoons SPG (salt, pepper and garlic), to taste
Directions
Key ingredients
- Build the fire first. Let a wood fire burn down to a steady bed of coals with a little flame, with the grate set over it. A roaring fire chars the outside before the middle heats through. → photo 3
- Check it. Slice the puffball top to bottom through the centre. The cut face must be pure, uniform white, with no outline of a mushroom inside, no yellowing and no dark core. If anything looks wrong, it does not get cooked. → photo 1
- Slab it. Brush off any dirt and trim away bruised or discoloured skin. Cut into slabs about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. Thicker slabs stay soft inside while the outside chars.
- Make the dip. Melt the butter in a small pot at the edge of the fire and stir in the SPG. Taste the butter; it should be well seasoned, because the puffball has almost no flavour of its own.
- Dip. Dip each slab in the seasoned butter, turn it to coat both faces, and let the excess drip back into the pot. → photo 1
- Straight onto the grate. Lay the slabs directly on the hot grate, not in a pan. Excess butter drips into the fire, and the flare-up and smoke season the mushroom. Cook until golden with dark grill marks, then turn. Dip or brush again if they look dry.
- Cook it through. Turn until the slabs are hot and soft all the way to the middle, a few minutes a side depending on the fire and the thickness. Wild mushrooms are always cooked through. → photo 2
Notes
What this is — and what it isn’t This is a method, not a measured recipe. I did not weigh the butter or time the grill; the quantities above are a starting point for a soccer-ball-sized puffball. The three gallery photos were taken on the day, over about seven minutes on the afternoon of 27 September 2026: the slabs and the butter dip on the camp table, the folding grill over the fire, and the finished slabs.
Why the grate and not the pan A puffball soaks up fat like a sponge. In a pan it drinks the butter and gives it back slowly, so it can end up greasy. On an open grate the excess drips away, and the char and smoke give a mild mushroom far more flavour than a skillet can.
The one rule Slice every puffball top to bottom before cooking, whatever its size. A young deadly Amanita is enclosed in a white egg-shaped membrane and can be mistaken for a small puffball. Cut through, it shows the outline of a cap and gills. A giant puffball is uniform white. See the Mushrooms dive, especially the safety and giant puffball pages.
Variations In a cast-iron pan: brown the slabs in the seasoned butter over medium heat. Breaded: see Puffball Parmesan. Other seasoning: any rub works in the butter. See Sweet Rub (Jeff’s).