Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Break a peck of large mushrooms into a deep earthen pan.
Strew ¾ pound of coarse sea salt among the mushrooms.
Set the pan in a cool oven overnight, covered with a cloth or paper.
Make the ketchup
The next day, strain off the liquid and measure it.
Boil the liquid for 15 minutes.
For each quart of liquid, add 1 ounce of black pepper, ¼ ounce of allspice, ½ ounce of ginger, and 2 blades of mace.
Boil the mixture fast for an additional 20 minutes.
Bottle and seal
When thoroughly cold, pour it into bottles and cork them well.
Seal the necks with melted bottle cement to secure the catsup from 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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Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Large mushrooms
- Provide the main body and flavor of the ketchup once their liquid is drawn out.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws liquid out of the mushrooms and preserves the mixture against spoilage.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, pungent warmth that rounds out the savory flavor.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the finished ketchup.
- Ginger
- Adds bright, aromatic spice that balances the rich mushroom flavor.
- Mace
- Adds delicate, warm aromatic flavor to the liquid.
The step that matters
Boiling the liquid before adding spices. Boiling concentrates the strained liquid and gives it body, while the spices are added afterward so their volatile aromas are not boiled away. Thorough cooling before bottling keeps the ketchup from spoiling inside sealed bottles.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper, allspice, ginger):
- Clovefits better
- Thymefits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, pepper, allspice, ginger. 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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