Yeah, for me, it’s onions first and in for a long time. I like to get the onions a little charred before they start to soften, so I don’t want anything else in the pan with them. The mushrooms go in next, and it doesn’t really matter if they get direct contact with the bottom of the pan, I’ve never really noticed a difference there. Mushrooms and onions stay together until the onions are nice and soft. Once the onions are ready, I put in the garlic. I do want the garlic to have direct pan contact, so I’ll often push the mushrooms and onions over to the side to make room. That also lets me make sure there’s some oil or fat where the garlic’s going to fry.

This is very different if I’m doing a stir fry. In that case I don’t tend to use garlic, and I actually want the onions to be a bit crunchy. In that case, I might do mushrooms first, or do them separately.