Why it works: Mushroom and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,765 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓
Quins Fish Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine walnut pickle, mushroom pickle, pounded anchovies, whole anchovies, white wine, mace, and cayenne in a stone jar.
Let the mixture stand for three weeks.
Bottle
Strain the sauce into small bottles 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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Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Walnut + mushroomtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together763 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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White wine + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,329 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Walnut + macetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together765 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,529 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnut pickle
- Provides the dark, tangy, savoury base that gives the sauce its character.
- Mushroom pickle
- Adds earthy, savoury depth that rounds out the walnut flavour.
- Anchovies
- Contribute salty, savoury depth that dissolves into the liquid during standing.
- White wine
- Adds a light acidic sharpness that brightens the richer pickles.
- Mace
- Contributes a warm, aromatic spice note.
- Cayenne
- Adds gentle background heat.
The step that matters
Let the mixture stand for three weeks. The anchovies and pickles need time to break down and blend into the liquid. Cutting the standing time short leaves the flavours harsh and unmellowed.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, mushroom, white wine):
- Thymefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, mushroom, white wine. 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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