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 ↓
Broiled Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select large mushrooms with deep cups.
Cook
Place mushrooms cup side down over clear coals and cook for 2 minutes.
Turn mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove carefully to avoid spilling the juice.
Serve
Serve on buttered toast, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add a bit of butter on each.
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.
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Large mushrooms
- Their cups hold juices as they cook, and their flesh browns and softens over the coals.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the mushrooms taste savory and smooth.
The step that matters
Remove carefully to avoid spilling the juice. As mushrooms cook, they release moisture that pools in the cup. This liquid is concentrated in flavor, so spilling it dilutes the dish and leaves the mushrooms drier and less savory.
“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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