Why it works: Mushroom and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Layer the mushrooms in a container, sprinkling coarse sea salt over each layer.
Let the mushrooms stand for four days.
Prepare the liquid
Mash the mushrooms finely.
For every quart of mushrooms, add ⅔ teaspoon of black pepper.
Boil the mixture in a stone jar set in boiling water for two hours.
Strain the mixture without squeezing.
Boil the liquid.
Let the liquid cool and settle.
Bottle and store
Bottle, cork, and seal the liquid.
Store the sealed bottles in a cool place.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 umami flavor as they break down during salting and cooking.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and preserves them during the four-day standing period.
- Black pepper
- Adds mild heat and aromatic spice to the finished liquid.
The step that matters
Salting each layer. Salt must be spread evenly over every layer so the mushrooms cure uniformly. Salt draws out moisture and inhibits spoilage bacteria, so gaps can allow spoilage during the long standing period.
“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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