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Modern Cookery

A curry of cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, and curry powder simmered slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cucumbers and mushrooms finely.

Cook the curry

  1. In a pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped vegetables and onion, cooking until soft.

  3. Stir in the curry powder, pepper, and water.

  4. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

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. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cucumbers
Provide the main bulk and moisture, softening into the curry as it cooks.
Mushrooms
Add savoury depth and a meaty, tender texture to the curry.
Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and body to the sauce.
Butter
Carries the curry powder's flavour and adds richness to the dish.
Curry powder
Supplies the spice blend that defines the dish's aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. A long, gentle simmer lets the cucumber and mushroom release and reabsorb liquid, concentrating flavour. Stirring prevents scorching on the base of the pan as the mixture thickens.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, onion, pepper, butter. 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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