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 ↓
Broiled Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Clean the mushrooms and remove any dirt.
Preheat the grill or broiler.
Broil
Place the mushrooms on the grill.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Broil until tender and slightly charred, about 5-7 minutes.
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
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Form the main body of the dish, releasing moisture that softens and then concentrates as they cook.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture from the surface and seasons the mushrooms.
The step that matters
Broil until tender and slightly charred. Mushrooms are mostly water. High heat lets that moisture evaporate and the surface brown, concentrating flavour. Too little heat leaves them steamed and watery, while too long leads to dry, bitter edges.
“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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