Name: Kitchen Mixed Spice, for White Sauce
Ingredients: grated rind of ½ lemon; ½ nutmeg, grated; 1 ounce white pepper; 2 teaspoons powdered mace

Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Kitchen Mixed Spice, for White Sauce

Ingredients

grated rind of ½ lemon
½ nutmeg, grated
1 ounce white pepper
2 teaspoons powdered mace

Directions

Make the spice mix

Mix the grated lemon rind, grated nutmeg, white pepper, and powdered mace thoroughly.
If the mixture is not fine, pound all ingredients together in a mortar.

Store and use

Store the spice mix in a tightly sealed bottle until needed.
When using, add ½ teaspoon of the mixed spice to 1 pint of sauce and adjust to taste.

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.

Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Nutmeg + white peppertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,375 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lemon + white peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,658 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

White pepper: Provides the main sharp, peppery heat that flavours the sauce.
Powdered mace: Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that complements white sauces.
Grated nutmeg: Adds a warm, sweet aroma to the spice blend.
Grated lemon rind: Adds bright citrus aroma that lifts the richness of the sauce.