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Mushrooms, to Pickle

Pickled button mushrooms in a spiced white wine vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,765 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Mushrooms, to Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the mushrooms with a damp flannel and place them in cold white wine vinegar.

  2. Slowly bring the vinegar to a boil.

  3. Drain the mushrooms and let them cool.

Pickle

  1. In a pot, combine vinegar, salt, peppercorns, ginger, cayenne, and mace; bring to a boil.

  2. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on their size.

  3. Transfer the mushrooms to warm, wide-mouthed bottles and cover with the vinegar.

  4. Distribute the spices among the bottles.

  5. Let the contents cool, cork, and seal.

Store

  1. Store in a cool, dry place, avoiding frost.

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. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  2. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Ginger + macetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

White wine vinegar
Acts as the pickling liquid, preserving the mushrooms and giving them their sharp, tangy flavor.
Tiny button mushrooms
Main ingredient that softens slightly in the hot vinegar while keeping a firm bite.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the brine and helps draw flavor into the mushrooms.
White peppercorns
Adds a mild, warm, aromatic pepper note to the brine.
Ginger
Adds a fresh, spicy aroma that infuses into the vinegar.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat to the brine, balancing the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Drain and cool the mushrooms before pickling. Mushrooms placed in hot, freshly boiled brine can release water and become soggy, and adding them to a boiling pot while still wet dilutes the brine. Cooling them first helps keep the vinegar strength and texture as intended.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, ginger, pepper, 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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