Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Stewed Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut off the underground part of the mushroom stems.
Wash the mushrooms carefully and remove the skin from the tops.
Cook
Place the mushrooms in a stewpan with salt, butter, and cayenne pepper.
Cook over high heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve
Transfer to a covered dish and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- They release their own liquid as they cook, which gently stews them in the pan.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a rounded flavor, and helps the mushrooms brown slightly as they cook.
The step that matters
Cooking over high heat. Mushrooms release a lot of liquid, and over high heat that liquid must evaporate while the butter can scorch. Stirring and watching the pan helps the mushrooms stew in their own juices without drying out or burning.
“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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