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Another Way to Pickle Mushrooms

A method for pickling mushrooms in vinegar with salt, pepper, allspice, and shallots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Another Way to Pickle Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the mushrooms thoroughly.

  2. Place them in a jar and cover with vinegar.

  3. Add salt, white pepper, and allspice.

Cook and bottle

  1. Boil in a water bath or on a hot plate until the mushrooms are tender.

  2. Before bottling, add a few shallots.

  3. Seal the jar tightly once cooled.

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 + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Allspice + shallottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together386 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Vinegar + shallottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. White pepper + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms
The main ingredient, which softens and becomes tender as they are boiled in the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the mushrooms and gives them their tangy, pickled flavour.
Shallots
Add mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the pickled mushrooms.

The step that matters

Boil until the mushrooms are tender. Mushrooms need to be heated fully so they become tender and safe to store. Stopping early leaves them firm and less well preserved, so check for tenderness before sealing.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, vinegar, allspice, shallot. 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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