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Mushroom Catchup

A fermented mushroom condiment made with salt, spices, wine, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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 Catchup

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the opened toadstools.

  2. Bruise the opened toadstools.

  3. Layer the toadstools in an earthen pan.

  4. Sprinkle coarse sea salt between the layers.

Stand and heat

  1. Let the mixture stand for six days.

  2. Stir the mixture daily.

  3. Place the pan in a gentle oven.

  4. Cover the pan with a wet cloth.

  5. Keep the pan wet for four hours.

Strain and season

  1. Strain the mixture through a fine cloth or sieve.

  2. To every gallon of liquid, add 1 quart of red wine and salt to taste.

  3. Add a piece or two of small-cut ginger.

  4. Strain the mixture again.

Settle and bottle

  1. Let the catchup cool.

  2. Pour off the settlings.

  3. Bottle the catchup.

  4. Cork tightly.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Opened toadstools
Provides the bulk and the mushroom flavour of the catchup.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the mixture during standing.
Red wine
Adds liquid, acidity and depth of flavour to the finished catchup.

The step that matters

Layering the toadstools with salt. Salt must be spread evenly between the layers so that it draws out moisture and preserves the whole batch during the long standing period. Uneven salting can let some parts spoil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, allspice, pepper, red wine, ginger):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, allspice, pepper, red wine, 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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