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Double Mushroom Catsup

A sauce made by steeping fresh mushrooms in salt and mushroom catsup, then simmering with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Double Mushroom Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Salt and stand

  1. Strew 3 ounces of salt over 1 gallon of fresh mushrooms and pour in 1 quart of ready-made mushroom catsup.

  2. Stir occasionally for 4 days.

Drain and boil

  1. Drain the liquid from the mushrooms.

  2. Boil it for 15 minutes with 1 ounce of whole black peppercorns, 1½ teaspoons of ground mace, 1 ounce of ground ginger, and 3 to 4 grains of cayenne pepper.

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

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

  2. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Mace + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Mushroom + gingertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together867 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh mushrooms
Form the bulk of the catsup and supply its savory, meaty flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the mushrooms, concentrating their liquid for the catsup.
Mushroom catsup
Adds concentrated mushroom flavor and depth to the finished catsup.
Black peppercorns
Contribute a sharp, pungent bite that flavors the boiled liquid.
Ground mace
Adds a warm, nutmeg-like aroma to the catsup.
Ground ginger
Adds a warm, pungent aroma and light sharpness.

The step that matters

Boiling the drained liquid with the spices. Boiling for the full 15 minutes lets the spices release their aroma and flavor into the liquid, and drives off some water so the catsup is concentrated. Boiling too briefly leaves the spices weak and the liquid thin, while boiling too long can make the flavors harsh or flat.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, 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.

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