Skip to main content
Main

Ham, Potted

A ham mixture seasoned with mace, nutmeg, pepper, cayenne, and clarified butter, baked and then pressed into small pots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Ham, Potted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the ham

  1. Pass the ham through a mincing machine or chop it finely.

  2. Pound the ham in a mortar with the seasoning until well combined.

  3. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

Bake and pot

  1. Put the mixture into a greased pie dish and cover with greased paper.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  3. When done, press into small pots and cover with clarified butter once cooled.

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

Lean ham
Provides the main meat body that sets into a firm, sliceable-to-spread texture when pounded and pressed.
Fat
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pressed ham tender rather than dry.
Ground mace
Contributes a warm, aromatic flavour that complements the meat.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, sweet aroma that deepens the seasoning.
Cayenne
Adds gentle heat that lifts the flavour of the meat.
Clarified butter
Seals the surface of the potted ham, excluding air and protecting it from drying out.

The step that matters

Pounding and sieving the ham smooth. Breaking the meat down finely and rubbing it through a sieve gives an even, fine-textured spread; coarse pieces leave a grainy, uneven result after baking and pressing.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, nutmeg, pepper, 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes