Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Stew the mushrooms gently in the white veal gravy.
Season with salt, pepper, mace, and lemon peel if desired.
Thicken the sauce with flour.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, stir in the egg yolk.
If desired, add cream to the sauce.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + vealtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,500 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Young button mushrooms
- Provide the main body and earthy flavor of the sauce as they soften while stewing.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce by starch gelatinizing in the hot gravy.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the sauce and thickens it further, adding richness and silky texture.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and mellows the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat; if the sauce boils after it is added, the yolk can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture. Add it just before serving and keep the sauce below a boil.
“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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