Those standard white Field mushrooms are fairly unspectacular, but everything else more exotic, even just Chestnut mushrooms are much tastier. I like small Chestnut mushrooms quartered, fried for a short time on a high heat, with dijon and/or wholegrain mustard and some creme fraiche added for the last minute.
Small cremini or button mushrooms, marinated. I usually buy some premade from an Italian deli, where they’ve been soaking up the olive oil, vinegar, garlic for hours. Great antipasto.
Amen to that. I use a splash of marsala wine and a generous pinch of minced fresh thyme. Lovely! Or make a pan-seared steak in a smoking hot oiled skillet, remove the steak to rest, turn down the heat and saute the mushrooms and some sliced onions and make a pan sauce with a splash of chicken or beef stock, the wine, thyme, minced garlic and butter. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.
I find that mushrooms have two main components to their flavor. One is just a generic protein tastes-like-chicken flavor, and the other is distinctively mushroom-y. Some people like the distinctively mushroom-y flavor and so seek out the varieties where that flavor is stronger, but I don’t like it, and so prefer the blander mushrooms (to the extent that I like them at all).
Mushrooms definitely have an umami-ness to them, to the point that you can get mushroom ketchup. I’m not sure how widespread its use is, so forgive an explanation that might seem condescending! It’s not ketchup like tomato ketchup, it’s more of a piece with Worcester Sauce: a black, salty, tangy affair which adds a considerable savoury richness to gravies and soups. Add it to something mushroomy and the whole thing gets mushroomier; add it to something meaty and it gets meatier.
Mushrooms can do similar without making them into ketchup, albeit without quite the same intensity. It’s all about concentrating the flavour: when cooked down enough (there’s a hell of a lot of moisture in a fresh mushroom), they get really very savoury. Cook them gently for quite a while in salted butter and olive oil with garlic, black pepper and thyme: the water gradually evaporates and they soak up the buttery, oily, spicy goodness, and you’ve got a spectacular topping for a pizza…though it’s really just as good on toast. Or scooped directly from the pan with a hunk of bread.
While I love mushrooms, even as a kid,* I have to wonder at the same question. To me, pepperoni and black olives is the way to go; the olives’ texture and taste better survive the tomato/cheese/pepperoni flavor assault. Mushes get lost in the crowd.
I had to – little brother hated 'em.