Why it works: Mushroom and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Cold Meat Broiled, with Poached Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Broil the slices of mutton or beef carefully until done.
Keep the meat warm in a dish before the fire.
Poach the eggs to your liking.
Serve the broiled meat with mushroom catsup and melted butter, adding a few drops of shallot wine or vinegar if desired.
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 + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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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Mutton + mushroomtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together685 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the shallot
The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, egg, mushroom, butter):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Shallotthe original
- Leekfits about as well
- Chivefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, mushroom, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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