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Mushrooms, Bordelaise

Sautéed imported Cepes with garlic, parsley, and half glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mushrooms, Bordelaise

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of sweet oil in an omelette pan.

  2. Add 12 Cepes and warm them thoroughly.

  3. Drain off the oil and add the chopped garlic and parsley.

  4. Toss over the fire a couple of times, then season with salt and pepper.

  5. Add 1 tablespoon of half glaze and serve hot.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cepes (boletus mushrooms)
Main ingredient; their earthy flavour and meaty texture are the core of the dish.
Half glaze
Adds concentrated savoury depth and body to the mushrooms at the end.
Garlic
Adds aroma and pungent flavour when gently warmed in the pan.

The step that matters

Warming the mushrooms thoroughly. Mushrooms release water as they cook; if the pan is crowded or too cool, they steam instead of browning, leaving them soft and bland rather than savoury.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, parsley, pepper):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, parsley, pepper. 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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