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Dessert

To Dry Mushrooms

A method for cleaning, drying, and preserving mushrooms for later use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

To Dry Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and dry

  1. Wipe the mushrooms clean, take away the brown part, and peel off the skin.

  2. Lay them on sheets of paper to dry in a cool oven until they shrivel considerably.

Store and use

  1. Keep them in paper bags that hang in a dry place.

  2. When wanted for use, put them into cold gravy, bring them gradually to simmer, and they will regain nearly their usual size.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

501Calories
31 gProtein
28 gFat
34 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 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.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Mushroom + beeftop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Ketchup + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 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

Button mushrooms
Drying concentrates their flavour, and simmering in gravy lets them rehydrate and soften again.
Beef gravy
Provides the liquid and savoury base in which the dried mushrooms rehydrate.

The step that matters

Drying in a cool oven until they shrivel. A cool oven drives off moisture slowly, so the mushrooms dry without scorching or browning. Drying too fast or too hot can case the outside to harden before the inside has dried, which slows rehydration later.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, beef, ketchup, sugar, butter, onion, clove):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, beef, ketchup, sugar, butter, onion, clove. 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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