Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
To Pot Venison
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the venison
Rub the venison with vinegar and let it sit for an hour.
Dry the venison with a cloth.
Rub the venison all over with red wine.
Season the venison with white pepper, coarse sea salt, and beaten mace.
Place the venison in an earthen dish.
Pour ½ pint of red wine over the venison.
Pour 1 pound of butter over the venison.
If using a shoulder, cover it with a coarse paste.
Bake and pot
Bake the shoulder overnight at 300°F (150°C).
Remove the meat from the bones.
Beat the meat in a mortar with the fat from the gravy.
If not seasoned enough, add more seasoning and clarified butter.
Continue beating until it forms a fine paste.
Press the mixture into pots.
Pour clarified butter over the top.
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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White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,695 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Vinegar + red winetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together575 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Venison + red winetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together167 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Red wine + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,599 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Venison + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison
- Forms the body of the dish, and beating it breaks the meat into a spreadable paste.
- Vinegar
- Acidity tenderises the surface of the meat before it is seasoned and cooked.
- Red wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the meat as it is rubbed and soaked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, which keeps the potted meat moist and gives it a smooth texture.
The step that matters
Continue beating until it forms a fine paste. Meat fibres only break down into a smooth, spreadable texture with thorough beating; stopping early leaves a coarse, stringy pot.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, vinegar, red wine, mace, butter):
- Clovefits better
- Thymefits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, vinegar, red wine, mace, 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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