Why it works: Mushroom and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mtjshboom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Layer mushrooms in a container, sprinkling coarse sea salt over each layer.
Let them stand for four days.
Mash the mushrooms finely.
For every quart of mushrooms, add ⅔ teaspoon of black pepper.
Boil the mixture in a stone jar set in boiling water for two hours.
Strain the mixture without squeezing.
Boil the liquid, then let it cool and settle.
Bottle and cork tightly, then store in a cool place.
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.
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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