Why it works: Mushroom and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Break the mushrooms into small pieces and place them in a deep earthen pan.
Sprinkle ¾ pound of salt over the mushrooms, reserving some for the top.
Let the mixture sit for 2 days, stirring gently with a wooden spoon occasionally.
Make the ketchup
Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan and heat slowly, simmering for 15 to 20 minutes.
Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and measure it.
In a clean saucepan, boil the liquid quickly until it is reduced by half.
For each quart of liquid, add ½ ounce of black peppercorns or ¼ teaspoon of cayenne and 1 drachm of mace.
Bottle and seal
Pour the catsup into a clean jar, cover with a cloth, and store in a cool place overnight.
The next day, pour off the liquid from the sediment into small bottles.
Cork the bottles well and seal them with rosin. Optionally, add 1 teaspoon of salad oil to each bottle before corking.
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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,529 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Provide the main body and savoury flavour of the ketchup as they release their juices.
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and preserves the liquid, seasoning it throughout.
- Black peppercorns
- Add sharp, pungent heat and aroma to the reduced liquid.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the finished ketchup.
The step that matters
Reducing the strained liquid by half. Boiling concentrates the liquid's flavour and salt while driving off water, so the ketchup keeps longer and tastes more intense. Boiling quickly keeps the reduction efficient.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, 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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