Why it works: Nutmeg and mace 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 Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Season and layer
Mix bay salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and mace together.
Layer the fish in a large stew-pan, adding clarified butter between each layer.
Let the fish soak in a moderate heat (350°F/175°C) overnight.
Drain and pot
Drain the gravy from the fish.
Lay the fish belly down on a large pan.
Pack the fish closely in pots, belly down.
Cover the fish first with salt.
Cover the fish with clarified butter.
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.
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Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pepper and mace 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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, which is preserved and set in fat.
- Bay salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, helping it keep.
- Clarified butter
- Fat that seals the fish from air between layers and keeps it moist.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, warm aroma and flavour to the fish.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, sweet aroma that complements the fish.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, warm aroma similar to nutmeg.
The step that matters
Soaking the fish overnight at moderate heat. A long, gentle soak lets the salt and spices penetrate the flesh evenly. Too much heat would cook the fish before it has been seasoned through, so the heat must stay moderate.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, nutmeg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Clovefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, nutmeg, butter. 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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