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 Ketchup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mushrooms
Choose full-grown mushroom caps, freshly gathered in dry weather.
Layer mushrooms in a deep pan, sprinkling salt over each layer.
Let them sit for a few hours, then break them up by hand.
Store in a cool place for three days, stirring and mashing occasionally to extract juice.
Spice and cook
Measure the liquor without straining, then add spices according to the quantity.
Transfer everything to a stone jar, cover tightly, and place in a saucepan of boiling water.
Boil for 3 hours, then pour into a clean saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour into a jug and let it cool overnight.
Strain and bottle
Strain into very dry, clean bottles without squeezing the mushrooms.
Add a few drops of brandy to each pint of ketchup.
Do not shake the contents; leave sediment behind in the jug.
Cork well and seal the cork.
Check occasionally for spoilage; if needed, reboil with a few peppercorns.
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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Pepper + mushroomtop 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
- Fresh mushrooms
- Provide the bulk of the liquid and flavour once salted and mashed to release their juice.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws juice out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the mixture.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds heat and sharpness that balances the savoury mushroom flavour.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the ketchup.
- Ginger
- Adds a warm, aromatic bite that brightens the spice blend.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the spice blend.
The step that matters
Salting and extracting the juice. Salt layered with the mushrooms draws out their liquid and preserves them during the days of standing. Too little salt risks spoilage, while stirring and mashing release more juice for the final ketchup.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, allspice, ginger, mushroom):
- Clovefits better
- Thymefits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, allspice, ginger, mushroom. 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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