Why it works: Mushroom and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,423 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Cookery Up-to-date
Ingredients
Directions
Heat clean water and mushrooms in a pot without boiling.
Simmer for about 30 minutes.
Add floured meat and cook slowly for 30 to 45 minutes until tender.
If using pigeons, wash them thoroughly with cold water and a clean cloth before cooking.
Stew pigeons whole or halved with mushrooms, allowing extra cooking time for raw birds.
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 + meattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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