What to use instead of ginger
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Fresh aromatic heat in a stir-fry, curry base or marinade
Gingerol is pungent and volatile, so fresh ginger gives sharpness at the front of the dish. In a marinade its enzyme also softens the meat.
Frozen whole ginger, grated from frozenRan out
1:1
Grates finer than fresh and does not string. Nothing else changes.
Jarred ginger pasteRan out
1 tsp paste per 1 tsp grated fresh, plus a pinch more
Duller and slightly sour from the preservative acid, and it browns faster in the pan.
GalangalRan out
1:1 by weight, in Thai and Malay dishes
Piney and citrus-sharp rather than hot. Correct for tom kha and laksa, wrong in a Cantonese stir-fry.
Ground gingerRan out
1/4 tsp ground per 1 tbsp grated fresh, added with the other dry spices
Warm and dusty with none of the fresh bite. It cannot fill the volume, so a marinade will be noticeably thinner.
What doesn't work: Pickled sushi ginger. It has been cured in sweetened vinegar, so it dumps sugar and acid into the pan and most of the heat has already been washed out of it.
Warm spice in a baked good or hot drink
Dried ginger's shogaols give a slow warming burn rather than a sharp one. The quantity is tiny, so the swap is about flavour and never about structure.
Pumpkin pie spice or mixed spiceRan out
1 tsp per 1 tsp ground ginger
Cinnamon takes over and ginger drops to a background note. Gingerbread tastes more like a spice cake.
Ground allspiceRan out
1 tsp per 1 tsp ground ginger
Sweeter and more clove-like. The snap goes and a faint medicinal edge comes in at full strength.
Grated fresh gingerRan out
1 tbsp grated per 1/4 tsp ground
Brighter and hotter but wet. In a stiff cookie dough the extra moisture makes the biscuits spread.
Crystallised ginger, minced fineRan out
1 tbsp per 1/2 tsp ground, and take 1 tbsp off the recipe's sugar
Chewy pockets of heat instead of an even warmth through the crumb.
What doesn't work: Ginger ale or ginger beer for the flavour. Both are mostly sugar and water, so you would have to add enough to turn the batter to soup before the ginger registered.