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Potted Anchovies

A preserved anchovy paste made with butter, mace, cayenne, and nutmeg, set in a potting pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Potted Anchovies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the anchovies

  1. Scrape the anchovies clean.

  2. Remove the flesh from the bones.

  3. Pound the flesh into a smooth paste using a mortar and pestle.

  4. Press the paste through a fine sieve using the back of a wooden spoon.

  5. Weigh the anchovies.

Make the paste

  1. Pound the anchovies again with double their weight in softened butter.

  2. Add the mace, cayenne, and nutmeg, mixing well.

  3. Set the mixture aside in a cool place for 3 to 4 hours to harden.

Store

  1. If desired, pour lukewarm butter over the mixture before storing.

  2. Store in a potting pan; it will keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Mace + rosetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together498 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Nutmeg + rosetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper 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

Anchovies
Provide the main savoury, salty flavour and the fish base of the paste.
Unsalted butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture that sets as it firms.
Ground mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note that complements the fish.
Cayenne pepper
Adds a gentle background heat that balances the richness.

The step that matters

Pounding the anchovies into a smooth paste. Fish flesh must be broken down finely and sieved so no fibres or bones remain. Any lumps or grit will make the spread coarse, and the paste must be fully combined with the butter so it sets evenly rather than separating.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, nutmeg, rose):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, nutmeg, rose. 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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