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Mushroom Stems Stewed

A dish of mushroom stems simmered in butter, flour, milk or cream, seasoned with salt and pepper, served over toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Mushroom Stems Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and drain the mushroom stems.

  2. In a pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  3. Roll the stems in flour and add them to the pan.

Cook and serve

  1. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  2. Add milk or cream and cook until heated through.

  3. Serve the mixture on delicate slices of toast.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mushroom stems
The main ingredient, providing earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture when stewed.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and helping the stems brown gently in the pan.
Flour
Coats the stems and, with the milk or cream, thickens the mixture into a light sauce.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and creaminess, and its proteins and fat help form a smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Add milk or cream and cook until heated through. Dairy can split or scorch if it boils hard or is overheated. Keeping the heat moderate and stirring gently helps keep the sauce smooth and the stems evenly coated.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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