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EveryMasala

Classic blends

Quatre epices

The French four-spice powder of ground pepper, clove, nutmeg and ginger for charcuterie.

Quatre epices means four spices in French. It is a fine powder of white pepper, clove, nutmeg and ginger or cinnamon, used for pates, terrines, sausages and stews. Its roots lie in medieval spiced cooking.

What goes in

White pepper: 55%55%Nutmeg: 18%18%Clove: 9%9%Ginger: 18%18%11parts

Parts by volume of the whole spice. The ring shows each part's share.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Ratios and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional-style way.

  1. Step 1: Grind Grind whole white pepper peppercorns finely.
  2. Step 2: Grind Grate or grind the nutmeg.
  3. Step 3: Grind Grind the clove and ginger to powder.
  4. Step 4: Blend Blend all together.
  5. Step 5: Rest Rest a day in a closed jar.
  6. Step 6: Store Store in a small, airtight jar.
  7. White pepper: 55%55%Nutmeg: 18%18%Clove: 9%9%Ginger: 18%18%
    Finished Quatre epices, by share.

Use in charcuterie

The blend is used mostly for meat, and small amounts go a long way. White pepper leads, with clove and nutmeg as the sweet, warm notes.

Variation

Some recipes use cinnamon in place of ginger, and some add allspice. It is related to the sweet-spice traditions of Europe, from pain d'epices to mixed spice.

Where it is used

PateTerrineSausagesStewsMulled wine

The spices in it

NutmegSweet.ClovePungent.GingerWarm.Black pepperThe dried fruit of a climbing vine, the world's most traded spice.GingerThe pungent rhizome of a flowering plant, widely used as a spice and folk medicine.

More on EveryMasala

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryMasala desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are an illustrative, traditional-style ratio, not a standard: every family and maker blends differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.