What to use instead of nutmeg
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Warm background note in a dairy or egg sauce
A small amount stops milk, cheese and egg tasting flat, filling in behind the dairy without reading as a distinct spice.
MaceRan out
1:1
The lace around the same seed, so it is the nearest thing there is. Lighter and more floral, with less of the woody bass note.
Ground allspiceRan out
Half the amount
Clove and pepper come forward. In a bechamel it tips the sauce towards Christmas if you use a full measure.
Cinnamon with a pinch of cloveRan out
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/8 tsp ground clove per 1 tsp nutmeg
Sweeter and more forward. It works in a kugel or a spaetzle dough and is too loud in a quiche.
White pepperRan out
1/4 tsp per 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Different tack entirely. It does the same job of stopping the sauce tasting flat, with heat instead of sweetness.
What doesn't work: Pumpkin pie spice in a savoury bechamel. It is mostly cinnamon and ginger with a heavy hand of clove, and a mac and cheese seasoned with it tastes like a dessert that went wrong.
Grated aroma floated on top of a drink
Almost all of it is smell rather than taste. The volatile oils come off the cut surface and you get them on the way to the glass.
Whole mace blade, microplanedRan out
1:1
Same family, lighter and more floral. Grates to a paler orange dust that shows less on eggnog.
Cinnamon stick, microplanedRan out
1:1
Sweeter and simpler, with none of the pine edge. Grates coarser and floats better on a foamy drink.
Aromatic bittersRan out
2 dashes per drink
Gives the spice and none of the visual dusting. Adds a faint bitterness that suits a painkiller better than an eggnog.
What doesn't work: Pre-ground nutmeg from a jar that has been open a year. The oil that carries the whole effect has evaporated, so you float a grey dust on the drink and smell nothing when you lift the glass.
Whole nutmeg keeps its oils for years and ground nutmeg loses most of them in a few months, which is why the same measure can taste like twice as much.