Why it works: Flour and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,078 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Gravy for Hare
Ingredients
Directions
Thicken the stock with flour mixed smoothly with a small amount of liquid.
Add the flour mixture to the rest of the stock and let it boil for 20 minutes.
Stir in soy sauce, salt, and pepper as needed.
Add port or claret and serve a little with the hare, with the rest in a tureen.
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.
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Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,303 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 stock as its starch swells and sets into a smooth, lightly body gravy.
- Port or claret
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the gravy.
- Soy sauce
- Adds savoury, salty depth that rounds out the stock.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour smoothly before adding it. Flour dropped straight into hot stock clumps because its starch grains swell on contact with liquid before they can disperse. Mixing it first with a little cold liquid separates the grains so they thicken the gravy evenly.
“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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