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Mushroom Catsup

A mushroom condiment made by steeping mushrooms with spices and boiling the liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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. Wipe the mushrooms carefully without washing them. Break the mushrooms into pieces.

  2. Layer the pieces in a stone crock, sprinkling salt between layers. Cover the crock with a cloth.

  3. Let it sit for 24 hours.

Extract and season

  1. Mash the mushrooms. Strain the mixture through a coarse bag.

  2. Add peppercorns, allspice, cloves, mace, and ginger to every quart of mushroom liquor.

Cook and bottle

  1. Set the mixture near the fire. Boil the mixture slowly for one hour.

  2. Let it cool. Strain the mixture again. Bottle the liquid.

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. Clove + gingertop 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. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Allspice + macetop 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

Fresh mushrooms
Provide the main body and savory flavor of the ketchup.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the mushrooms and helps preserve the liquid.
Peppercorns
Add sharp, aromatic heat that deepens the flavor during boiling.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice that flavors the simmered liquid.

The step that matters

Layering the mushrooms with salt. Salt must be spread evenly between layers so it draws out the mushrooms' liquid and protects the mixture from spoiling during the 24-hour rest.

Swap the mace

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

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

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