Name: Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients: 1 quart fresh or canned button mushrooms; 1 pint vinegar; 2 tablespoons salt; ¼ teaspoon mace

Why it works: Mushroom and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,070 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mushroom Catsup

Ingredients

1 quart fresh or canned button mushrooms
1 pint vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
¼ teaspoon mace

Directions

Prepare

Grate the mushrooms using a rotary grater.
In a pot, combine the grated mushrooms, vinegar, salt, and mace.

Cook and bottle

Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.
Bottle the catsup and seal it.

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.

Mushroom + vinegartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,070 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,529 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,415 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Button mushrooms: Provide the main body and savoury flavour of the ketchup.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the ketchup its sharp, tangy character and helps preserve it.
Salt: Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and seasons the sauce throughout.