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Mushrooms in Shells

Mushrooms in shells is a baked dish of sautéed mushrooms in pastry shells topped with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Mushrooms in Shells

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Cut fresh mushrooms into small pieces and dry them with a napkin.

  2. Toss the mushrooms in hot butter in a saucepan until browned but not fully cooked.

  3. Shake in 1 teaspoon of flour and stir.

  4. Add 1 cup of rich veal or chicken stock and let simmer for 5 minutes.

  5. Beat 2 eggs with the juice of ½ lemon and add slowly, stirring until thickened like cream.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill tart shells with the mixture, sprinkle with cracker crumbs, and brown in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

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.

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

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mushroom + vealtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,633 recipes

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

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Mushrooms
Provide the main body and savory flavor of the filling.
Butter
Browns the mushrooms and carries their flavor through the filling.
Flour
Thickens the stock so the filling holds together.
Veal or chicken stock
Adds liquid and savory depth to the filling.
Eggs
Set with gentle heat to give the filling a creamy, thickened body.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping over the filling.

The step that matters

Adding the egg and lemon mixture. Eggs thicken when heated but can curdle if they get too hot or are added too fast. Adding them slowly while stirring keeps the filling smooth and creamy.

“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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