Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and slice the mushrooms.
Cook the sauce
In a saucepan, combine the mushrooms, butter, pepper, and a good sprinkling of salt.
Cook over medium heat for a few minutes.
Add the water and simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
Thicken and serve
To thicken the sauce, mix a little butter and flour together, then add to the saucepan and cook for 5 more minutes.
Serve very hot.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Release moisture and savory flavor as they cook, forming the body of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the sauce and helping it feel smooth.
The step that matters
Thickening with butter and flour. Flour needs to be cooked in the hot liquid for several minutes to thicken evenly and lose its raw starchy taste. Adding it to a sauce that is not simmering can leave lumps.
“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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