Name: Mushroom Savoury
Ingredients: ½ lb mushrooms; 2 oz butter; Cayenne pepper to taste; Coarse sea salt to taste; A little ham, finely chopped; 2 eggs, beaten; 2 oz grated cheese; A little parsley, scalded, dried, and finely chopped; Rounds of fried bread

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mushroom Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mushrooms

Peel the mushrooms, remove the stalks, wash them, and chop finely.
In a saucepan, combine the mushrooms with 1 oz of butter, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes.

Make the topping

Add the chopped ham and beaten egg yolks. Stir over low heat until thickened, but do not let it boil.
Spread the mixture on the fried bread and keep warm.

Finish and serve

Mix the remaining 1 oz of butter with the grated cheese and parsley. Blend well. Pipe the cheese mixture through a rose pipe in the center of each mushroom topping.
Serve hot, garnished with parsley.

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms: Provide the main savory filling and moisture that cooks down into the topping.
Butter: Adds richness and carries the flavor while the mushrooms cook.
Eggs: Thicken the mixture as they set over low heat, giving it a creamy body.
Grated cheese: Melts into the topping, adding saltiness, richness and savory flavor.

The step that matters

Thickening the egg mixture over low heat. Egg proteins set gently at low heat; if the mixture boils, the eggs can curdle and turn grainy instead of smooth and thick.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, pepper, ham, egg, cheese, bread):

Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original
Nutmegfits about as well
Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, pepper, ham, egg, cheese, bread. 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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Macaroni and Cheese102 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

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Mushroom Savoury