Name: Roast Beef Gravy
Ingredients: ozmazome (meat drippings); water; thickening agent (e.g., flour or cornstarch); seasoning (e.g., salt and pepper)

Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Roast Beef Gravy

Ingredients

ozmazome (meat drippings)
water
thickening agent (e.g., flour or cornstarch)
seasoning (e.g., salt and pepper)

Directions

Pour off the fat from the pan.
Dissolve the ozmazome in a little water.
Thicken the mixture with a thickening agent.
Season to taste.

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.

Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,529 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).