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 mushrooms and cut off the stems.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Stew
Place in a saucepan or skillet with butter and enough cream or milk to cover.
Cover and stew for about 15 minutes, keeping the lid on to retain flavor.
Finish and serve
Remove from heat and gradually stir in the beaten eggs.
Serve in a covered dish.
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).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Form the main body of the dish and release moisture that combines with the cream as it stews.
- Cream or rich milk
- Provides fat and liquid that makes a rich, smooth sauce when gently simmered.
- Beaten eggs
- Thicken the warm cream sauce into a soft, custard-like texture when stirred in off the heat.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the mushrooms as they cook.
The step that matters
Stirring in the beaten eggs. Eggs set when heated, so they should be added gradually off the heat. Adding them to a boiling mixture can scramble them and leave the sauce grainy instead of smooth.
“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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