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Mushrooms

A method for preserving small mushrooms in vinegar with mace and sweet oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,070 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the mushrooms by rubbing them with a flannel dipped in salt.

  2. Soak the cleaned mushrooms in cold water to preserve their color.

Cook and cool

  1. Place the mushrooms in a saucepan with a handful of salt and cover tightly.

  2. Cook over heat for 4 to 5 minutes until they release their liquid.

  3. Lay the mushrooms between two dry cloths to cool.

Bottle and store

  1. Pack the cooled mushrooms into glass bottles.

  2. Add distilled vinegar, a blade of mace, and sweet oil to each bottle.

  3. Cork the bottles tightly.

  4. Store in a dry, cool place.

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 + vinegartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,529 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Small mushrooms
Form the main body of the preserve, softening as they cook and release their liquid.
Distilled vinegar or white wine vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the preserved mushrooms their sharp, tangy flavor and helps keep them stable.
Sweet oil
Coats the mushrooms in the bottle, adding fat and a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cook over heat until they release their liquid. Cooking drives off moisture and seasons the mushrooms with salt. Stopping too early leaves excess water in the bottle, which can dilute the vinegar and reduce how well the mushrooms keep.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, vinegar. 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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