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To Pickle Mushrooms

A method for pickling tender mushrooms with peppercorns, mustard seed, nasturtium seeds, and cold white wine vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,765 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

To Pickle Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place tender mushrooms in jars.

  2. Add peppercorns, mustard seed, and nasturtium seeds.

  3. Pour cold white wine vinegar over the mushrooms.

  4. Cork and seal the jars hermetically.

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 + white winetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Mushroom + mustardtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together881 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mushroom + vinegartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tender mushrooms
Form the main body of the preserve and absorb the pickling liquid's flavour.
Cold white wine vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the mushrooms and gives them their tangy taste.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, sharp aroma and bite to the pickling liquid.
Peppercorns
Contribute a warm, sharp aroma that flavours the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cork and seal the jars hermetically. An airtight seal keeps air and spoilage microbes out of the jars. Without it, the acidic liquid may not reliably preserve the mushrooms.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, white wine, vinegar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, white wine, vinegar. 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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