Why it works: Capsicum and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,677 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
White Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Choose the smallest, round, perfect button mushrooms and rub each with a piece of soft flannel dampened with a solution of coarse sea salt.
Thoroughly cleanse the mushrooms after rubbing.
Place the mushrooms in a pan, sprinkle with finely powdered coarse sea salt, and cover tightly to prevent steam from escaping.
Cook for 10 to 12 minutes until water is extracted from the mushrooms.
Remove the mushrooms immediately onto a sieve and dry them well with cloths.
Let the mushrooms cool, covered to protect from air.
Pickle and store
Prepare a light pickle by boiling the vinegar with mace, eschalots, cloves, chillies, and capsicums, skimming well.
Pour the pickle over the mushrooms in clean glass jars, leaving space at the top.
Add olive oil to float on top for an inch in depth, seal with bladder, and store in a dry, cool place.
The mushrooms will be ready to use in a month.
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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Capsicum + olivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,677 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Mushroom + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,571 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Clove + capsicumtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,438 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Mushroom + capsicumtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,816 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small round white mushrooms
- Form the main body of the pickle, becoming tender and firm as they are cooked and steeped.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the mushrooms, concentrating their flavour and firming their texture before pickling.
- White-wine vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the mushrooms and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
- Whole cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice to the pickling liquid.
- Olive oil
- Floats on top as a layer that seals the jars and limits contact with air.
The step that matters
Cooking the salted mushrooms until water is extracted. Cooking under a tight cover draws out moisture while the mushrooms stay in their own steam. Too little time leaves them wet and diluted in the pickle; too long makes them rubbery and shrunken. Drying them well before pickling keeps the vinegar from being watered down.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, clove, capsicum, wine, vinegar, olive):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, clove, capsicum, wine, vinegar, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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