Name: Gravy for Beef or Mutton
Ingredients: ½ cup walnut catsup; 1 small cup tomato catsup; 1 small cup sherry (optional); 1 tablespoon butter; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon currant jelly; salt; pepper

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Gravy for Beef or Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the gravy

Mix walnut catsup, tomato catsup, sherry (if using), butter, chopped onion, currant jelly, salt, and pepper until well combined.

Bake and serve

Lay slices of beef or mutton in a dish and pour the gravy over the meat.
Place the dish in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through.
Serve hot.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sherry + curranttop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together393 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,039 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Walnut catsup: Adds a dark, rich, savory-sweet flavor base to the gravy.
Tomato catsup: Contributes sweetness and acidity that balance the savory flavors.
Butter: Adds fat for a smoother mouthfeel and rich flavor.
Currant jelly: Adds sweetness and body, rounding out the sharpness of the catsups.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, tomato, sherry, butter, onion, pepper):

Avocadofits better
Cherryfits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, tomato, sherry, butter, onion, pepper. 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.