Why it works: Mushroom and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,529 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Chop mushrooms and mix with salt.
Let macerate for three to four days.
Strain and measure the liquid.
Reduce and season
Boil it quickly until reduced by half.
Add black pepper or cayenne and mace.
Boil again until reduced.
Settle and bottle
Pour into a clean jug or jar, cover with a cloth, and cool overnight.
Gently pour off the sediment and bottle the catsup.
Add a teaspoon of salad oil to each bottle before corking to exclude 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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Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,529 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Release the liquid that becomes the ketchup base and provide its savoury, umami flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the mushrooms and preserves the liquid through maceration.
- Black peppercorns or cayenne
- Adds sharp heat that balances the savoury depth of the mushroom liquid.
- Mace
- Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the finished ketchup.
- Salad oil
- Forms a thin layer over the surface that helps keep air away from the bottled ketchup.
The step that matters
Boiling the strained liquid until reduced by half. Boiling concentrates the liquid and drives off water, which intensifies flavour and helps the ketchup keep. Boiling too gently or too briefly leaves it thin and more prone to spoiling.
“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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