Why it works: Mace and nutmeg 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 ↓
Oyster Sausages
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the beef or mutton, suet, and oysters together.
Add bread crumbs and egg yolks to bind the mixture.
Season with salt, white pepper, mace, and nutmeg.
For a spicier version, omit mace and nutmeg, and add cayenne, shallot, and garlic vinegar.
Shape the mixture into sausages or fry into shapes as desired.
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.
-
Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,695 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
-
Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,032 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Bread + shallottop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the shallot
The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, oyster, bread, egg, white pepper, mace, nutmeg):
- Shallotthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Horseradishfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, oyster, bread, egg, white pepper, mace, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Brown Bread461 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipes