Name: Cheese Potted
Ingredients: 3 pounds Cheshire cheese; ½ pound best butter; 1 large glass sack (sherry); ½ ounce mace, beaten and sifted

Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Potted

Ingredients

3 pounds Cheshire cheese
½ pound best butter
1 large glass sack (sherry)
½ ounce mace, beaten and sifted

Directions

In a mortar, heat the Cheshire cheese and butter together.
Add the glass sack and the mace, mixing well.
Transfer the mixture to a pot and pour clarified butter over it.

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.

Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sherry + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,046 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,405 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Butter and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,405 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

Cheshire cheese: Forms the body of the potted cheese and carries its rich, savoury flavour.
Butter: Adds fat and smoothness, helping the cheese blend into a spreadable texture.
Sack: Adds acidity and aromatic depth that brightens the rich cheese and butter.
Mace: Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that complement the cheese.