Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mushroom Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Select sound mushrooms and cut off the ends of the stems.
Rub the tops with a flannel dipped in salt.
Soak the mushrooms in a mixture of ¾ cup milk and water.
Drain and place them in a stew pan, sprinkling with ¼ cup salt.
Cover and cook over gentle heat for 5 minutes to draw out water.
Drain the mushrooms on a coarse cloth until cold.
Make the pickle
To prepare the pickle, combine vinegar, mace, cloves, Worcester salt, red pepper, and nutmeg in a jar covered with a wet cloth.
Place over very low heat and cook until the acid is prominent.
Bottle and seal
Fill small wide-mouthed bottles with mushrooms and pour the pickle over them until filled.
Seal the bottles tightly.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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 pickle, absorbing the spiced vinegar as they are packed in bottles.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the mushrooms and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
- Salt
- Draws water out of the mushrooms, firming their texture before they are pickled.
- Mace
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Drawing water out of the mushrooms. Cooking the salted mushrooms over gentle heat draws out their water, so they stay firm and the pickle is not diluted. Draining them fully until cold keeps the vinegar from being watered down.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, vinegar, clove, pepper, nutmeg):
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, vinegar, clove, pepper, nutmeg. 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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