Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Wash and cut the mushrooms into 2 to 4 pieces.
Layer the mushrooms in a wide, flat jar or crock, sprinkling each layer with coarse sea salt.
Let the layered mushrooms stand for 24 hours.
Extract the juice
Press out the juice from the mushrooms and bottle it, corking the bottle.
Return the mushrooms to the jar.
Let the mushrooms stand for another 24 hours.
Press out the juice again and bottle it, corking the bottle.
Return the mushrooms to the jar.
Let the mushrooms stand for another 24 hours.
Press out the juice again and bottle it, corking the bottle.
Make and bottle the ketchup
Mix all the extracted juices together and add black pepper, allspice, and pounded cloves.
Boil the mixture and skim off any scum that rises.
Bottle the catsup when cool, adding 2 cloves and a peppercorn to each bottle.
Cork and seal the bottles, then store in a dry 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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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mushroom + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,663 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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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
- Main body of the ketchup; salt draws out their juice, which becomes the sauce.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the extracted juice.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the cooked juice.
- Cloves
- Add pungent aromatic spice flavour to the cooked juice and bottles.
- Black pepper
- Adds mild heat and sharpness to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Skimming the boiled juice. Scum rising during boiling is impurities and proteins from the mushroom juice; removing it keeps the ketchup clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or off-flavoured.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, clove):
- Thymefits about as well
- Allspicethe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, clove. 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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