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Mushroom Catsup

A fermented mushroom condiment made with salt, wine, spices, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mushroom Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the mushrooms

  1. Break mushrooms into small bits and sprinkle with salt.

  2. Let them sit for 24 hours.

Cook and strain

  1. Transfer mushrooms to a saucepan and boil gently for 45 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Let it settle overnight.

Flavour and bottle

  1. The next day, pour off the clear liquid.

  2. For every pint, add half the amount of port wine or strong beer, mace, peppercorns, allspice, bruised ginger, and cloves.

  3. Simmer for 20 minutes.

  4. Pour into bottles, dividing the spices evenly.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Broad flat mushrooms
Supply the main body and savoury umami flavour of the ketchup as they break down.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and seasons them, helping preserve the liquid.
Port wine or strong beer
Adds depth, sweetness and alcohol that helps preserve the finished ketchup.

The step that matters

Let the mushrooms sit with salt for 24 hours. The salt must draw out enough liquid and fully season the mushrooms before cooking. Too short a rest leaves the flavour weak and the liquid too thin to strain well.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, port wine, allspice, ginger, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, port wine, allspice, ginger, clove. 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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