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Preserve

Potted Ham

A ham and veal mixture spiced with mace, nutmeg, cayenne, pressed into small pots and topped with clarified butter.

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 300°F (150°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.

  2. Wipe the ham dry and trim the ham.

  3. Wrap the ham in coarse paste.

  4. Bake at 300°F (150°C) until tender.

  5. Remove the crust and rind.

  6. Weigh the ham after removing skin and fiber.

Make the potted meat

  1. Mince the ham and veal finely with a sharp knife.

  2. Pound the minced meat in a large mortar, adding butter gradually until smooth.

  3. Mix in mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, adjusting spices to taste.

Pot and store

  1. Press the mixture into small pots.

  2. Pour clarified butter on top.

  3. Store in a cool, dry place; it will keep for up to two weeks.

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

Lean ham
Forms the main body of the potted meat, providing its savory flavor and texture.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and moisture, and makes the pounded meat smooth and spreadable.
Roast veal
Adds a mild, tender meat flavor that softens the texture of the mixture.
Mace
Contributes a warm, aromatic spice flavor.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, sweet aroma that complements the mace.

The step that matters

Pound the minced meat while adding butter gradually. Adding butter slowly lets it emulsify into the finely minced meat, giving a smooth, spreadable texture; adding it all at once can leave the mixture greasy and grainy.

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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