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Giblet Gravy

A savory gravy made from chicken heart, liver, gizzard, neck, and wing tips simmered in water, thickened with flour and fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,958 recipes. Both carry piperonal, which smells bitter, coconut. The science ↓

Giblet Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the giblets

  1. Wash the heart, liver, gizzard, neck, and tips of the wings.

  2. Place the giblets in a saucepan and add 3 cups of cold water.

  3. Bring to a boil, then let simmer until the meat is tender.

  4. Remove the heart, liver, and gizzard, and chop them finely.

Make the gravy

  1. Pour off the liquid from the roasting pan.

  2. Skim off 3 tablespoons of fat from the liquid.

  3. Return the fat to the pan.

  4. Brown the fat with 3 tablespoons of flour.

  5. Gradually stir in 1½ cups of the stock from cooking the giblets.

  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  7. Strain the gravy.

  8. Add the chopped giblets to the strained gravy.

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. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  2. Chicken + livertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together383 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chicken + flourtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Chicken and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,559 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

Flour
Thickens the fat and stock into a smooth gravy as it cooks.
Fat from the roasting pan
Carries the flour's browning and flavor and helps form a smooth roux.
Giblet stock
Supplies the main liquid and the savory meat flavor of the gravy.
Chicken liver
Adds rich, savory depth and body when chopped into the gravy.
Chicken gizzard
Contributes chewy texture and meaty flavor once cooked until tender.

The step that matters

Brown the fat with the flour. Cooking the flour in the fat until it is evenly browned removes its raw taste and builds color and nutty flavor. Adding stock too early, or leaving it pale, makes the gravy lumpy or floury-tasting.

“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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