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Puree of Mushrooms

A creamy mushroom puree made with butter, bread crumbs, brown sauce, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Puree of Mushrooms

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.

Prepare the mushrooms

  1. Wash and dry the mushrooms, then chop them finely.

Cook

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the chopped mushrooms.

  2. Cook on low heat for 7-8 minutes.

  3. Mix in the bread crumbs, season with salt and red pepper.

  4. Add the brown sauce and bring to a boil.

  5. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms
Form the bulk of the puree and provide its earthy flavour and moisture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and carries flavour as the mushrooms cook.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid from the mushrooms, thickening the puree and giving it body.
Brown sauce
Adds savoury depth and colour to the puree.

The step that matters

Cook on low heat for 7-8 minutes. Gentle heat lets the mushrooms release and then reabsorb their moisture without scorching. Too much heat can burn the butter and milk solids and leave the puree dry or unevenly cooked.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, bread, pepper, sauce):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, bread, pepper, sauce. 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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