Skip to main content
Main

Mushroom Pickles

Pickled mushrooms preserved in vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Ginger and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mushroom Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. Combine the mushroom buttons and vinegar in a large pot.

  2. Add the salt, white peppercorns, whole ginger, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool before transferring to jars.

  5. Seal jars and store in a cool, dark place.

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. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushroom buttons
Provide the main body of the pickles and absorb the flavour of the brine.
White wine vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves and gives the pickles their sharp tang.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the brine and helps draw out moisture from the mushrooms.
White peppercorns
Add a mild, sharp heat and aroma to the brine.
Whole ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic note that infuses into the vinegar.

The step that matters

Simmer for 10 minutes, then cool fully before jarring. Simmering briefly softens the mushrooms and lets the brine flavours penetrate. Jarring while still hot can cause the jars to seal poorly and can cook the mushrooms further, so they should cool before transferring.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, white wine, vinegar, ginger, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, white wine, vinegar, ginger, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Mushroom SoupMushroom Soup60 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes