Why it works: Mushroom and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mushroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the mushrooms
Combine the mushrooms and 1½ pounds of salt in a deep earthen pan, reserving the remaining salt for later.
Let the mixture stand for 3 to 4 days, stirring gently once every 24 hours.
Drain off the liquid without the mushrooms.
Make the ketchup
Combine the liquid with the brown sugar and vinegar in a clean saucepan and boil until reduced by half.
For every quart of liquid, add ½ ounce of black pepper (or ¼ teaspoon of cayenne) and 1 drachm of mace.
Pour the catsup into a clean jar.
Cover the jar with a cloth.
Let it cool overnight.
Gently pour off the sediment.
Bottle and store
Transfer the catsup into small bottles.
Optionally, add 1 teaspoon of salad oil to each bottle before corking to exclude air.
Cork the bottles well and seal with rosin.
Store the bottles in a dry, cool place.
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.
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Mushroom + vinegartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,070 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mushrooms
- Provide the main body and savory flavor of the ketchup.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws liquid out of the mushrooms and preserves the mixture against spoilage.
- Coarse brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and depth that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the finished ketchup.
- Black pepper
- Adds warm, pungent spice to the finished ketchup.
The step that matters
Boiling the strained liquid until reduced by half. Boiling concentrates the liquid and its flavor while driving off water, so the ketchup thickens and keeps better. Stopping early leaves it thin and more prone to spoiling.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, sugar, vinegar, pepper):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, sugar, vinegar, pepper. 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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