What to use instead of mushrooms
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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Browned savoury bulk in a pan (duxelles, stroganoff, sauteed mushrooms)
A mushroom is around 90 percent water, so the cooking is really two stages: drive the water off, then brown what is left. The second stage is where the meaty flavour appears and most people stop before it.
King oyster or maitakeRan out
1:1 by weight
Denser and chewier with less water to boil off, so they reach the browning stage several minutes sooner.
Dried porcini, rehydratedRan out
1 oz dried per 8 oz fresh, plus the strained soaking liquid
Far stronger in flavour and slightly slippery in texture. Use the soaking water; it is the better half of the ingredient.
Eggplant, diced small and browned hardRan out
1 lb eggplant per 1 lb mushrooms, plus 1 tbsp extra oil and 1 tsp soy sauce
Similar meaty softness and sweeter, and it drinks far more oil. The soy is covering for savour it does not have.
Walnuts and cooked lentils, pulsed, for a duxelles-style fillingPlant-based
1/2 cup walnuts + 1/2 cup cooked lentils per 8 oz mushrooms
Holds a filling together well and does not brown, so the texture lands and the flavour is nutty rather than earthy.
What doesn't work: Tinned or jarred mushrooms in a saute. They are already cooked and packed in brine, so they cannot brown, and the liquid they shed carries a tinny flavour straight into the pan and then into the sauce.
Earthy backbone in a broth or braise
Mushrooms carry guanylate, which multiplies the savoury effect of glutamate already in the stock. This is a background ingredient whose job is to make everything else taste like more.
Dried shiitakeRan out
3 or 4 caps per 8 oz fresh mushrooms, soaked 30 minutes in warm water
Much more concentrated and slightly smoky. The stems stay tough, so drop them straight into the pot rather than trying to eat them.
Kombu, steeped below a simmerPlant-based
a 4-inch piece per 4 cups liquid
Marine rather than earthy. Boiling it turns the stock slimy and bitter, so keep it under 80 C and pull it out.
Miso, added at the endPlant-based
1 tbsp per 4 cups
Salty and it clouds the broth. Cut the salt elsewhere in the recipe.
Soy sauce or tamariPlant-based
1 tbsp per 4 cups
Colour and salt arrive with the savour, so the pot goes noticeably browner.
What doesn't work: Truffle oil standing in for mushrooms in a soup. It is almost always a single synthetic aroma compound with nothing behind it, so the soup smells overwhelming and still tastes like thin cream.