I guess it depends a lot on what’s available to you in your area and what you like to make… as I think about it, I end up using mushrooms a lot in meat-substitute scenarios, where I want something with a lot of body. Think stuffed mushrooms, sautéed mushroom appetizers, vegetarian burgers - things like that. So your criminis and portobellos have a lot of body for those kinds of things. Likewise if I’m making something like a hot and sour soup or a homemade ramen, I want something that’s going to have the right mouthfeel and ideally be traditional to those styles.

So… I guess when I think about the varieties of mushrooms that can generally be found growing in my areas - chanterelles and boletes are perhaps a better fit for things I make. I know where the pro foragers are going in our area, but even they don’t find tremendous quantities of morels… in our particular area, the season seems exceptionally brief. I get enough each year to toss them with some pasta, but the flavor is so mild and the body is so spongy that apart from “the thrill of the hunt” I’d be just as happy to substitute some other variety. I’d be very curious how you use them… I do find that if I dry them and use them to augment a soup broth, they add a nice umami.