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Mushrooms in Shells

Mushrooms in Shells is a baked dish of sautéed mushrooms, eggs, stock, and lemon, topped with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mushrooms in Shells

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut fresh mushrooms into small pieces and dry them with a napkin.

Make the filling

  1. Toss the mushrooms in hot butter in a saucepan until browned but not fully cooked.

  2. Shake in 2 teaspoons of flour and stir.

  3. Add 1 cup of rich veal or chicken stock and let it simmer for five minutes.

  4. Beat 2 eggs with the juice of ½ lemon and add slowly, stirring until thickened like cream.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill tart shells with the mixture, sprinkle with cracker crumbs, and brown in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mushroom + vealtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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 earthy flavor of the filling.
Flour
Thickens the stock and butter mixture so the filling holds together.
Veal or chicken stock
Supplies liquid and savory depth that the eggs thicken into a creamy filling.
Eggs
Set with gentle heat to thicken the filling to a creamy texture.
Butter
Browns the mushrooms and adds rich flavor and fat.

The step that matters

Adding the egg mixture. Eggs thicken when heated but scramble if the liquid is boiling. Add the egg and lemon mixture slowly while stirring, over low heat, so it thickens smoothly into a cream-like filling.

“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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