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Double Mushroom Catsup

A preserved mushroom ketchup made by salting, mixing with catsup, and simmering with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Double Mushroom Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Strew 3 ounces of coarse sea salt over 1 gallon of fresh mushrooms and pour in 1 quart of mushroom catsup.

  2. Stir occasionally for 4 days.

  3. Drain the liquid from the mushrooms and boil it for 15 minutes with 1 ounce of whole black pepper, 1½ teaspoons of mace, 1 ounce of ginger, and 3 to 4 grains of cayenne.

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. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  3. Mace + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Mushroom + gingertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together867 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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 bulk of the ketchup and release their own liquid when salted.
Mushroom catsup
Adds concentrated mushroom flavor and savory depth from the start.
Black pepper
Contributes sharp, pungent aroma and a gentle background bite.
Mace
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes that complement the mushroom flavor.
Ginger
Adds bright, aromatic warmth that lifts the savory mushroom base.

The step that matters

Salting and standing the mushrooms. Salt draws water out of the mushrooms and forms the brine that carries their flavor into the liquid. Enough salt is needed so the mixture stays preserved during the long stand, and stirring keeps the salt evenly distributed.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, ginger):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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