Name: Spirit of Savoury Spice
Ingredients: 1 ounce black pepper; ½ ounce allspice, pounded fine; ¼ ounce nutmeg, grated; 1 pint brandy or proof spirit

Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spirit of Savoury Spice

Ingredients

1 ounce black pepper
½ ounce allspice, pounded fine
¼ ounce nutmeg, grated
1 pint brandy or proof spirit

Directions

Prepare

Combine black pepper, allspice, and nutmeg in a jar.
Pour in the brandy or proof spirit.

Infuse

Seal the jar and let it infuse for 10 days.
Shake the jar gently every few days.

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.

Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,331 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Allspice + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together931 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Black pepper: Adds sharp, pungent heat and aroma that carries through the spirit.
Allspice: Contributes warm, aromatic flavour with a hint of sweetness.
Nutmeg: Adds warm, sweet aroma that deepens the spiced character.
Brandy or proof spirit: Acts as a solvent, drawing aromatic compounds out of the spices over time.