Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Fresh Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Pour cold water over the fresh mushrooms to cleanse them; drain immediately; peel them, remove and scrape stems, and sauté in a very little butter until tender.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter, add flour, and cook until very smooth; add the veal stock and continue to stir until thickened.
Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, kitchen bouquet, lemon juice, and cream; add the sautéed mushrooms.
Heat thoroughly before serving.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Veal | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- Butter
- Forms the roux with flour and adds richness and flavour to the sauce.
- Veal stock
- Provides the liquid base and savoury depth of the sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silkier, rounder texture to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Cook the roux until very smooth. Flour must be cooked in the melted butter long enough to lose its raw starchy taste and to blend without lumps. Adding stock to a poorly mixed roux can leave lumps that stir out only with difficulty, and the sauce may taste floury.
“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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