Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Break a peck of large mushrooms into a deep earthen pan.
Strew ¾ pound of coarse sea salt among the mushrooms.
Set the pan in a cool oven overnight, covered with a cloth or paper.
The next day, strain off the liquid and measure it.
Boil and spice
Boil the liquid for 15 minutes.
For each quart of liquid, add 1 ounce of black pepper, ¼ ounce of allspice, ½ ounce of ginger, and 2 large blades of mace.
Boil the mixture rapidly for an additional 20 minutes.
Bottle and seal
Once thoroughly cold, pour it into bottles and cork them tightly.
Seal the necks with melted bottle-cement to protect from air.
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 + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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
- Large mushrooms
- Provide the bulk of the liquid once salted and drawn out overnight.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the liquid.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, pungent heat that flavours the ketchup.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the ketchup.
- Ginger
- Adds a warm, aromatic bite to the ketchup.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, aromatic spice flavour to the ketchup.
The step that matters
Sealing the bottles once cold. Pouring the ketchup in while it is still warm can create condensation and spoilage risk, so it should be fully cold before bottling. Tight corking and sealing the necks limits air exposure, which otherwise can cause the liquid to deteriorate over time.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, allspice, ginger):
- Clovefits better
- Thymefits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, allspice, 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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