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 Ketchup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Choose fresh mushroom caps gathered in dry weather.
Layer mushrooms in a deep pan, sprinkling salt between layers. Let sit for a few hours.
Break them up by hand.
Place in a cool spot for three days, stirring and mashing to extract juice.
Season and simmer
Measure the liquor without straining. Add spices accordingly.
Transfer to a stone jar. Cover tightly. Place in boiling water. Boil for 3 hours.
Pour into a clean saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour into a jug. Let cool overnight.
Strain and bottle
Strain into dry, clean bottles without squeezing the mushrooms. Add a few drops of brandy to each pint of ketchup.
Do not shake. Leave sediment behind in the jug.
Cork well and seal the cork. Check occasionally for spoilage. Reboil with peppercorns if needed.
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).
-
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
- Mushrooms
- Provide the main body and savory flavor of the ketchup as their juice is extracted.
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the liquid against spoilage.
- Mushroom liquor
- Forms the liquid base of the ketchup, carrying the flavor of the mushrooms and spices.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds sharp heat that gives the ketchup its pungent character.
- Mace
- Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes to the finished ketchup.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that helps preserve the ketchup and rounds out its aroma.
The step that matters
Straining without squeezing. Squeezing the mushrooms pushes solids and fine particles through the strainer, making the ketchup cloudy and more prone to sediment and spoilage. Letting the liquid drip through keeps it clear and stable.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, allspice, ginger, brandy):
- Clovefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, allspice, ginger, brandy. 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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