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To Stew Canned Mushrooms

A creamy stew made with canned mushrooms, milk, butter, and sherry, served over toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

To Stew Canned Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain the mushrooms.

  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  3. Stir in the flour until smooth.

Make the stew

  1. Add boiling milk and stir until it boils for 2 minutes.

  2. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper; stir until heated.

  3. Remove from heat; stir in the beaten egg yolk and sherry.

  4. Serve on buttered toast or fried bread.

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 + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk
Thickens the sauce and adds richness as it sets gently off the heat.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, body-giving sauce.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds richness.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour and helps form the flour roux.
Mushrooms
Provide the main savoury flavour and texture of the stew.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat and can scramble or curdle if the sauce is too hot. Removing the pan from the heat before adding it keeps the sauce smooth and creamy.

“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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