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Potted Meats for Sandwiches

A spread made from cooked white meat or poultry mixed with cream and optional ingredients, served on bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potted Meats for Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the cooked white meat or poultry into small pieces.

  2. Pound the meat to a smooth paste, adding cream gradually.

  3. Incorporate meat jelly or butter if allowed, or thickened gravy if available.

  4. Season with salt to taste.

Assemble

  1. Spread the mixture on slices of bread.

  2. Butter the bread to make sandwiches.

  3. Alternatively, use thin strips of toast.

  4. Heat the mixture.

  5. Spread it on hot toast.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked white meat or poultry
Provides the main body and savoury flavour of the spread.
Cream
Softens the pounded meat and adds moisture for a smooth, spreadable texture.
Meat jelly or butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the spread feel smooth and mellow.
Thickened gravy
Adds moisture and savoury depth while helping the mixture hold together.

The step that matters

Pounding the meat to a smooth paste. Cooked meat is fibrous and dries out easily. Adding cream gradually while pounding breaks the fibres into a fine, evenly moistened paste; adding it all at once can leave lumps or a loose, watery texture.

“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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