Why it works: Mushroom and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,529 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the ketchup
Macerate mushrooms and salt for three to four days.
Strain and measure the liquid, then boil it quickly until reduced by half.
Add black pepper or cayenne and mace, then boil again until reduced.
Clarify and bottle
Pour the catsup into a clean jug, cover with a cloth, and cool overnight.
Gently pour off the sediment and bottle the catsup.
Add a teaspoon of salad oil to each bottle before corking to exclude air.
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 + 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
- Mushrooms
- Provide the main body and savoury flavour of the ketchup as they break down in salt.
- Salt
- Draws liquid out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the ketchup.
- Black peppercorns
- Add sharp, pungent heat and aroma to the finished ketchup.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the ketchup.
- Salad oil
- Forms a thin layer on top of the liquid in each bottle to limit contact with air.
The step that matters
Boiling the strained liquid until reduced by half. Boiling concentrates the flavour and thickens the liquid, and reduction is what gives the ketchup its body. Boiling quickly helps prevent overcooking the mushroom liquid while it thickens.
“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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