Tasting Dried Mushrooms

Our recipes often call for dried porcini mushrooms to add an intense, earthy flavor to stews and sauces. But what about other dried mushroom offerings at the supermarket? We bought packages of dried morel, chanterelle, and black trumpet mushrooms and then followed our typical method for reconstituting them--covering them in water, microwaving them on high for 30 seconds, and allowing them to steep for five minutes. We then used each one in place of dried porcini in recipes for mushroom risotto and porcini-Marsala pan sauce. With some adjustments, all proved acceptable substitutes. Our changes were straightforward: bumping up the proportion of mild morels, increasing the soaking time for chewy chanterelles, and reducing the amount of smoky-flavored black trumpets.