Why it works: Garlic and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,090 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Venison, Imitation Of, Potted
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Marinate
Rub the bottom of a deep dish with freshly-cut garlic and pour in ½ pint of claret.
Season the beef with pepper, salt, and powdered mace.
Place the beef in the wine and let it marinate for 2 days, turning it frequently.
Bake
Transfer the beef to a jar with a tight lid and pour the wine over it.
Cover lightly and place the jar in a shallow tin filled with boiling water.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until tender, adding boiling water to the tin as needed.
Pot and seal
Once cooked, let the beef cool, then pound it to a smooth paste.
Gradually mix in ½ pound of clarified butter while pounding.
Press the paste into pots and cover with clarified butter.
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.
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Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + garlictop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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
- Lean beef
- Forms the bulk of the dish and, once slowly cooked and pounded, becomes the smooth paste.
- Claret
- Adds acidity and flavour during the two-day marinade, helping to tenderise the meat.
- Clarified butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and seals the pots to keep the paste preserved.
- Powdered mace
- Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the beef.
The step that matters
Keep the tin topped with boiling water while baking. The jar cooks in gentle, moist heat from the water bath. If the water runs dry, the beef can dry out and turn tough instead of becoming tender.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, garlic, pepper, butter):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, garlic, 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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