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Soup

Gravy Soup

A hearty soup made with veal, beef, ham, celery, carrots, butter, mace, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the veal, beef, and ham into pieces.

  2. Melt the butter in a large cauldron.

  3. Chop the celery and carrots, then add them to the cauldron.

Cook the soup

  1. Cover the cauldron and cook over moderate heat until the gravy begins to draw out.

  2. Once the gravy is drawn out, add enough water to cover the meat.

  3. Bring to a boil and simmer for four hours.

Finish

  1. Strain the soup through a fine sieve.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mace + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main body of meat, releasing gravy and flavour into the broth as it cooks.
Beef
Adds meaty depth and rich flavour to the broth during the long simmer.
Ham
Contributes salty, smoky meat flavour that seasons the soup as it simmers.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour from the vegetables into the soup.
Celery
Adds aromatic vegetable flavour that builds the base of the broth.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aroma to the broth as they soften.

The step that matters

Cooking the covered meat until the gravy draws out. Gentle covered heat lets the meat release its juices slowly. Rushing with high heat can scorch the butter and vegetables before the gravy forms, giving a burnt taste.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, ham, butter, celery, carrot):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, ham, butter, celery, carrot. 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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