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Sauce

Mushroom Catsup

A fermented mushroom-based sauce seasoned with spices, used as a condiment.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mushroom Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mushrooms

  1. Cut off the stalks from the mushrooms.

  2. Peel the mushrooms.

  3. Break them into small bits.

  4. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt over every quart of mushroom pulp.

  5. Let it stand for 24 hours.

Make the ketchup

  1. Put the mixture into a saucepan.

  2. Boil gently for 45 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Let it settle.

  5. Pour off the clear liquid.

  6. For every pint of liquid, add ½ cup of port wine or old strong beer, a few blades of mace, 12 black peppercorns, 12 allspice berries, a bruised piece of ginger, and 8 cloves.

  7. Simmer for nearly 20 minutes.

  8. Pour it out and let it cool.

  9. Bottle the catsup with the spices evenly distributed.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Broad flat mushrooms
Form the main body of the ketchup, releasing liquid that becomes the base.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the finished ketchup.
Port wine or old strong beer
Adds depth and a fermented, slightly sweet or malty background to the liquid.
Cloves
Contributes warm, aromatic spice that flavors the finished ketchup.

The step that matters

Boil gently for 45 minutes. Boiling too hard can scorch the pulp and make the liquid cloudy or bitter. A gentle simmer concentrates flavor while keeping the ketchup clear and smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, port wine, allspice, ginger, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, port wine, allspice, ginger, clove. 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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