Culinary Chemistry / The Scientific Principles of Cookery, with Concise Instructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies, Marmalades, and Various Other Alimentary Substances Employed in Domestic Economy, with Observations on the Chemical Constitution and Nutritive Qualities of Different Kinds of Food.

by Friedrich Christian Accum

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

The name of catsup is given to several kinds of liquid pickles, made of savoury vegetable substances, such as mushrooms, walnuts, &c. The following method of preparing mushroom catsup is copied from the Cook’s Oracle:—

Take full grown mushrooms; put a layer of them at the bottom of a deep earthen pan, and sprinkle them with salt, then another layer of mushrooms, put some more salt on them, and so on, alternately, salt and mushrooms; let them remain two or three hours, by which time the salt will have penetrated the mushrooms, and rendered them easy to break; mash them well and let them remain for a couple of days, stirring them up, and mashing them well each day; then pour them into a stone jar, and to each quart add half an ounce of whole black pepper; stop the jar very close, set it in a stew-pan of boiling water, and keep it simmering for two hours at least. Take out the jar, and pour off the juice clear from the sediment through a hair sieve into a stewpan (without squeezing the mushrooms); let it boil up, skim it, and pour it into a dry jar; let it stand till next day, then pour it off as gently as possible, through a tammis, or flannel bag, (so as not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the jar.) Bottle it in pints or half pints; for it is best to keep it in such quantities as are soon used: in each pint, put a dozen berries of black pepper, the same of allspice, and a table-spoonful of brandy.