Why it works: Lemon and pepper 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 ↓
Xushbook Bauob
Ingredients
Directions
Brown the butter carefully until it is a dark brown.
Into this stir the onion and cook ten minutes.
Stir the flour in slowly, then add the pint of boiling stock.
Strain thoroughly before adding a pint of mushrooms and cook ten minutes.
If the mushrooms are large, quarter them; if small, half them.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Mushroom | 1/2 cup sliced (35g) | 15 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Browns to give a deep, nutty flavour and colour to the base.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid as it is stirred in with the butter.
- Mushrooms
- Add their earthy flavour to the consommé.
The step that matters
Brown the butter carefully until it is a dark brown. Butter can go from browned to burnt quickly, and burnt butter gives a bitter taste that carries into the whole consommé. Watch it closely and stop at a dark brown rather than black.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, flour, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Plumfits about as well
- Limefits less well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, flour, 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.
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