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Cheese, Potted

A cheese mixture of grated cheese, butter, wine, mace, and cayenne, pressed into small pots and covered with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheddar cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,436 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese, Potted

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cheese

  1. Remove the rind from the cheese and cut it into small pieces.

  2. Pound the cheese in a mortar until smooth, gradually adding the butter.

Season and pot

  1. Season with ground mace and cayenne pepper to taste.

  2. Stir in the wine until well combined.

  3. Press the mixture into small pots and cover with clarified butter.

Store

  1. Store in a cool, dry place.

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. Cheddar cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,436 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Cheddar cheese + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,016 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Cheese
Provides the main flavor and body of the spread.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture.
Wine (in the method)
Adds moisture and acidity that loosen the mixture and brighten the flavor.

The step that matters

Pounding the cheese smooth with the butter. Cheese and butter must be worked together gradually so the fat emulsifies evenly into the cheese. Adding the butter all at once or stopping early leaves a grainy, separated texture instead of a smooth paste.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheddar cheese, butter, pepper. 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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