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Pounding Ham

A ham mixture pounded with butter and spices, stored for later use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pounding Ham

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the skin from the ham and cut it into small pieces.

  2. Pound the ham in a mortar until it is finely broken down.

Mix and season

  1. Add butter gradually while continuing to pound until well mixed.

  2. Season with nutmeg and cayenne or white pepper to taste.

  3. If using, add a small amount of cloves for flavor.

  4. Store the mixture in a cool place immediately after preparation.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + white peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 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).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ham
Forms the main body of the mixture, providing the meaty base and flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture, making the pounded ham smooth and spreadable.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, meat, nutmeg, white pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, meat, nutmeg, white 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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