Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Savory Hash
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Peel and slice the onion, then add it to the melted butter.
Stir in the flour and fry for 1-2 minutes until browned.
Make the gravy
Open the canned meat and remove the fat from the portion needed.
If using all the meat, rinse the tin with ½ cup warm water to make gravy.
Pour the gravy into the saucepan and stir until it boils and thickens.
Keep the saucepan warm off the heat.
Finely chop the pickles and stir them or the vinegar into the sauce.
Finish and serve
Chop the parsley, marjoram, and thyme leaves finely.
Cut the meat into neat pieces, sprinkle with herbs, pepper, and salt.
Add the meat to the saucepan and warm through for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the mushroom ketchup before serving.
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.
-
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Canned meat
- Forms the main body of the dish and supplies most of its savory flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and carries flavor as the base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy as its starch swells when heated in liquid.
- Onion
- Softens and sweetens with frying, adding aroma to the sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds concentrated savory depth to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring the gravy into the saucepan and stirring until it boils and thickens. Flour starch only thickens liquid fully once it reaches a boil, and constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed so lumps do not form. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and floury-tasting.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, flour, vinegar, pepper, mushroom, ketchup):
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, flour, vinegar, pepper, mushroom, ketchup. 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.
You might also like
Mushroom Soup60 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.