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Potted Ham

A ham prepared by soaking, baking, and mincing with butter and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Potted Ham

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 ↓

Potted Ham

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham for 12 hours, then wipe it dry and trim it.

  2. Wrap the ham in coarse paste.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until tender.

  4. Remove the crust and rind.

  5. Let the ham cool completely.

Make the potted ham

  1. Weigh the lean ham after removing skin and fiber.

  2. Mince the lean ham finely with a sharp knife.

  3. Pound the minced ham with the butter gradually until smooth.

  4. Add the mace, grated nutmeg, and cayenne.

  5. Mix the mixture well, and keep turning it to ensure even seasoning.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Ham
Provides the main meaty flavour and the body of the potted mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture once pounded into the meat.
Cold roast veal
Adds lean meat that gives the mixture a finer, more tender texture.
Nutmeg
Contributes warm, aromatic flavour to the seasoned meat.
Mace
Adds a delicate, aromatic spice flavour that complements the nutmeg.

The step that matters

Pound the ham with the butter gradually until smooth. Adding the butter slowly lets it emulsify evenly into the finely minced meat, giving a smooth, spreadable texture instead of a greasy or grainy one.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, butter, nutmeg, 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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