Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Make Ketchup
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Salt the mushrooms
Without washing, squeeze mushrooms in a brown pan with salt and cover them.
Mix daily for a week without adding more salt.
After a week, place the pan in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 12 hours.
Remove from oven.
Squeeze the liquid through a cloth into another pan.
Let it stand for a few hours until sediment settles at the bottom.
Gently pour off the clear liquid into a stewpan.
Spice and boil
Boil the liquid with lemon rind, peppercorns, Jamaica pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.
Skim off any foam that rises.
Boil for a few minutes.
If not strong enough, boil longer.
Remove from heat.
Let it cool in the pan.
Strain and bottle
Pour off the liquid from the sediment.
Strain through a sieve to remove spices.
Bottle the ketchup for use.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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 savoury flavour of the ketchup as their liquid is extracted.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the mushrooms and preserves the liquid against spoilage.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the boiled liquid.
- Cloves
- Adds pungent aromatic warmth to the boiled liquid.
The step that matters
Boiling the strained liquid with spices. Boiling concentrates the liquid and extracts flavour from the spices, while skimming removes foam that would cloud the ketchup. Boil until the flavour is strong enough, since a weak boil leaves the ketchup thin and less keeping.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger):
- Limefits better
- Lemonthe original
- Orangefits less well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger. 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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