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 ↓
Creamed Mushrooms
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Drain the liquid from the can of mushrooms and set it aside.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the flour and stir to combine.
Gradually add the reserved mushroom liquid and enough cream to create a thin sauce.
Finish and serve
Add the mushrooms and season with salt.
Heat thoroughly and serve over squares of 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.
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).
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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).
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Mushroom + flourtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,253 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 dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping to carry flavor in the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter, giving it body.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, producing a smooth, thin sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the liquid gradually. Adding the mushroom liquid and cream slowly to the butter and flour mixture lets the starch disperse evenly, preventing lumps and producing a smooth sauce.
“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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