Name: French Sausage Spice
Ingredients: 5 lb black pepper, finely powdered; 3 oz mace, finely powdered; 1 lb cloves, finely powdered; ½ lb nutmeg, finely powdered; ½ lb Jamaica ginger, finely powdered; ½ lb coriander seeds, finely powdered; ½ lb aniseeds, finely powdered

Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

French Sausage Spice

Ingredients

5 lb black pepper, finely powdered
3 oz mace, finely powdered
1 lb cloves, finely powdered
½ lb nutmeg, finely powdered
½ lb Jamaica ginger, finely powdered
½ lb coriander seeds, finely powdered
½ lb aniseeds, finely powdered

Directions

Blend and sift

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Sift the mixture.

Bottle and seal

Bottle the spice blend.
Cork the bottles well and seal.

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.

Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + coriandertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Black pepper: Provides sharp, pungent heat that gives the blend its main bite.
Mace: Adds a warm, delicate aroma with a slightly peppery edge.
Cloves: Contributes a strong, warm aroma that dominates the blend's flavour.
Nutmeg: Adds warm, sweet, woody aroma to the spice blend.
Jamaica ginger: Adds peppery warmth and a fresh, aromatic lift.
Coriander seeds: Adds citrusy, floral notes that soften the heavier spices.

The step that matters

Cork the bottles well and seal.. Ground spices lose their volatile aromatic oils when exposed to air. A tight cork and seal slow this loss, keeping the blend fragrant for longer.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger, coriander):

Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Allspicefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger, coriander. 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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French Sausage Spice