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Pickled Mushrooms

Pickled mushrooms prepared by rubbing with flannel, seasoning with mace, pepper, salt, and vinegar, then simmering briefly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pickled Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gather sufficient vinegar to cover the mushrooms.

  2. Season the mushrooms with two blades pounded mace, one ounce ground pepper, and salt to taste.

  3. Choose young button mushrooms, rub off the skin with a piece of flannel and salt, and cut off the stalks.

  4. If very large, remove the red inside and discard black ones.

Cook

  1. Place the mushrooms in a stewpan, sprinkle salt over them, and add the pounded mace and pepper in the above proportion.

  2. Shake them well over a clear fire until the liquor flows and keep them there until it is all dried up again.

  3. Add enough vinegar to cover them, let it simmer for one minute.

Store

  1. Store them in stone jars.

  2. When cold, tie down with bladder and keep in a dry place.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

70Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot 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.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. 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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,627 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Mushrooms (in the method)
The main ingredient, which releases liquid when heated and then takes up the vinegar and seasonings.
Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that preserves the mushrooms and gives the pickle its tang.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a mild sweetness.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Pepper
Adds a sharp, pungent spiciness.

The step that matters

Shaking the mushrooms over the fire until the liquor dries up. Mushrooms release their liquid as they heat. Cooking that liquid off concentrates their flavour and drives the seasonings into the mushrooms before the vinegar is added, so the pickle is not watery.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar, vinegar, celery. 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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