Cooking advice: shiitake, not crimini
Posted: March 21, 2008 | Author: Doug | Filed under: Buddhism, Cooking, Japan, Religion, Travel | 3 Comments »I have noticed lately in some of limited cooking I do that you can substitute Japanese shiitake mushrooms for almost any cooked dish where common, or crimini, mushrooms are used, and get a better flavor. Crimini mushrooms have a great texture when raw, and work well in salads, but I’ve noticed that beyond that, they usually don’ t have all that much flavor.
However, shiitake mushrooms usually have a strong, smoky/salty flavor, and have worked well for me when making a spaghetti sauce (marinara) or in soups. Shiitake mushrooms, when boiled in water and with some konbu (Japanese dried seaweed), also make a good vegetarian broth. If you get them dried, and let them soak before cooking, you can save the water as a broth too.
As a side story, while in Japan, my wife (whose Japanese) and I visited my father-in-law’s home near the mountains. There, we visited a local shrine/Buddhist temple devoted to Yakushi, the medicine Buddha. Anyways, while outside this temple, there was a nice old lady selling shiitake tea. Basically it was boiled mushrooms, filtered and allowed to cool somewhat. The tea was actually really good.
So, shiitake mushrooms are in my mind more versatile than criminis, and make for great cooking. The key to shiitake mushrooms is that you have to cut off the stem which is hard and not all that edible. The head of the mushroom is usually pretty large, so only need about four or five for a meal. That’s good considering they cost more than crimini mushrooms. 
If you don’t live somewhere where shiitake mushrooms are sold (thankfully they’re becoming more popular all the time), then ordering a pack of dried mushrooms is a good idea. We get our from my in-laws in Japan, which is pretty convenient.
Anyways, try replacing crimini mushrooms with shiitake ones for all kinds of cooked dishes and see what you get. Better yet, reply back and let me know. Thanks!
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
If you add a piece of kombu when making your broth, you’ll get a wonderful “shiitake dashi”. I use this often when preparing vegetable dishes. It brings out an extra fresh taste in the food.
Hubby isn’t a big shiitake fan, but he loves this recipe: I cook sliced shiitake with equal parts mirin and shoyu and let the liquid reduce slowly for about a half hour. The result is a sweet, soft mushroom with hint of soy. It’s great on hot rice. Yummy!
I have also used shiitake when making stuffed mushrooms. I did worry about the mushroom being too strong and masking the filling, but the shiitake mellowed after being in the oven.
Doh, I forgot about the konbu. I’ve fixed the blog. Thank you!
Also thanks for the shiitake recipe too!
wrong post I know, but that’s so weird about onion/garlic/leeks! I was a vegetarian for seven or eight years, but those flavors I don’t think I could ever give up
hope your doing well, i think your link has changed or something, i had to go back to blogger to get the correct link? what i had saved and worked for awhile just pulled up something about how your account had been deleted.
take care!