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 ↓
Stewed Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the fresh mushrooms.
Heat the butter in a saucepan.
Add the mushrooms and stir until tender.
Season with salt and pepper.
Finish and serve
Stir in the cream and flour, then let it simmer.
Serve in a dish or on toast.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mushroom + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,500 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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
- Fresh mushrooms
- Form the main body of the dish and release moisture as they soften.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness and helps the mushrooms soften in the pan.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness, forming the body of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream as it simmers, giving the sauce body.
The step that matters
Stir in the cream and flour, then let it simmer. Flour must be fully mixed into the cream and simmered so it hydrates and thickens the sauce without lumps or a raw starchy taste. Cream can also scorch or split if it boils hard, so keep the heat gentle.
“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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