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Potted Ham

A ham mixture seasoned with mace, allspice, nutmeg, and pepper, pressed into small pots and topped with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Potted Ham

Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Chop the lean and fat ham very fine.

  2. Pound the chopped ham in a mortar to a smooth paste.

  3. Gradually add the mace, allspice, grated nutmeg, and pepper, mixing thoroughly.

Pot and store

  1. Press the mixture into small pots.

  2. Pour a thin layer of clarified butter over the top.

  3. Store in a cool place.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Mace + allspicetop 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

Lean boiled ham
Provides the main meaty body that is pounded into a smooth, spreadable paste.
Fat boiled ham
Adds richness and moisture, giving the paste a softer, silkier texture.
Clarified butter
Forms a sealed top layer that helps keep air out of the potted ham.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the ham.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour that complements the mace.

The step that matters

Pounding the ham to a smooth paste. Pounding breaks the meat into fine particles so it blends into an even, spreadable texture. Chopping alone leaves a coarse, uneven result, and the spices distribute more evenly once the paste is smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, allspice, nutmeg, pepper, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, allspice, nutmeg, pepper, butter. 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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