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 ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the liquid
Macerate the mushrooms with salt for three to four days.
Strain and measure the liquid.
Boil the liquid quickly until reduced by half.
For each quart of liquid, add ½ oz black pepper or ¼ teaspoon cayenne and 1 drachm mace.
Settle and bottle
Pour the catsup into a clean jug or jar.
Cover with a folded cloth and keep in a cool place overnight.
Gently pour off the sediment.
Transfer to small bottles.
Add 1 teaspoon salad oil to each bottle before corking to exclude air.
Cork the bottles well.
Seal with rosin.
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
- Release their juices during salting, which become the base liquid of the ketchup.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and preserves the liquid against spoilage.
- Black peppercorns
- Add sharp, warm pungency that flavours the finished ketchup.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the reduced liquid.
- Salad oil
- Forms a thin layer on the surface in each bottle, helping to exclude air.
The step that matters
Boil the liquid quickly until reduced by half. Rapid boiling concentrates flavour and evaporates water so the ketchup keeps better. Slow boiling over long periods can dull the flavour and extend exposure to heat, so the reduction should be done briskly.
“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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