Skip to main content
Main

Mushroom Sauce for Beefsteak

A buttery mushroom sauce with tomato catsup, stock, salt, and pepper for beefsteak.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mushroom Sauce for Beefsteak

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Take one can of mushrooms, and if large cut them up a little.

  2. Place in a skillet with one tablespoonful of butter.

  3. Let fry to a light brown.

  4. Add one and a half cups of soup stock, if you have it, if not, use hot water, and three tablespoons of tomato catsup, salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Thicken a very little with flour.

  6. Let boil up thoroughly and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

130Calories
1 gProtein
12 gFat
6 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms (in the method)
Provide the main body and savoury flavour of the sauce.
Butter
Fat for frying the mushrooms, helping them brown lightly and add richness.
Soup stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce.
Tomato catsup
Adds sweetness, acidity and colour to the sauce.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the liquid into a sauce as it boils.

The step that matters

Thicken a very little with flour. Flour must be stirred in evenly and the sauce boiled through, because starch only thickens fully once heated to boiling. Adding too much flour makes it pasty, while too little leaves it thin.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes