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 ↓
Musuroom Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Salt the mushrooms
Break mushrooms into a deep earthen pan.
Strew ¾ pound of salt among them, reserving some for the top.
Let them sit for 2 days, stirring gently with a wooden spoon.
Make the ketchup
Transfer the mushrooms to a large saucepan and heat slowly.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Strain the liquid and measure it.
In a clean saucepan, reduce the liquid by half over heat.
For each quart of liquid, add ½ ounce of black peppercorns or ¼ teaspoon cayenne.
For each quart of liquid, add 1 drachm of mace.
Bottle and seal
Pour the catsup into a clean jar.
Cover the jar with a cloth.
Let it cool overnight.
Pour gently from the sediment into small bottles.
Cork the bottles well.
Seal the bottles with rosin.
Optionally, add a teaspoon of salad oil to each bottle before corking.
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).
-
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Mushroom + macetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,529 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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 as their liquid is extracted and concentrated.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and seasons the liquid, helping preserve it.
- Black peppercorns
- Add sharp, aromatic pungency to the reduced liquid.
- Mace
- Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the reduced liquid.
The step that matters
Reducing the strained liquid by half. Reducing concentrates the flavor and thickens the liquid while evaporating water, which helps the ketchup keep. Heating too gently or too briefly leaves it thin and more prone to spoiling.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, pepper):
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, 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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