Name: Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients: ½ cup tomato sauce; ½ cup butter; 1 cup small mushrooms, sliced; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ¼ teaspoon cayenne

Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

In a saucepan, combine equal parts tomato sauce and butter.
Add sliced mushrooms that have been lightly fried in butter.

Season and finish

Season with lemon juice and cayenne.
Alternatively, omit the tomato sauce and use only butter or egg sauce with mushrooms.

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.

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.

Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,592 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mushroom + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Tomato sauce: Provides the sauce's base, body and tangy tomato flavor.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and giving the sauce a smooth texture.
Mushrooms: Contribute earthy flavor and a meaty texture to the sauce.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.