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To Pot Cheese

A cheese mixture of grated cheese, butter, mace, and mustard, baked in small pots and covered with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Pot Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a mortar, mix the grated cheese, cold butter, sifted mace, and mustard until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture into small pots.

Store

  1. Cover the cheese mixture with clarified butter.

  2. Store the pots in a cool, dry place.

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.

  1. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Butter + mustardtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mace + mustardtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,534 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Parmesan or cheshire cheese
Provides the main savoury flavour and firm, salty body of the spread.
Cold butter
Binds the cheese into a spreadable paste and adds richness.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Mustard
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the cheese and butter.
Clarified butter
Seals the surface of the mixture, limiting contact with air.

The step that matters

Covering with clarified butter. A complete, unbroken layer of clarified butter seals out air and moisture. Gaps let the surface oxidise and spoil, so the pots keep poorly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, butter, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, butter, mustard. 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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