Name: Gravy, to Improve the Flavour or Strength of
Ingredients: 3 ounces uncooked ham or bacon, cut into small pieces; 1 egg-sized piece of butter; 2 shallots, finely minced; 1 piece of parsley root; 2 allspice berries; 3 cloves; a bunch of savory herbs; 1½ pints gravy; ketchup or prepared sauces to taste

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gravy, to Improve the Flavour or Strength of

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the ham or bacon, butter, shallots, parsley root, allspice, cloves, and savory herbs.
Cook over gentle heat, shaking often to prevent burning, for about 30 minutes until the pan is colored with a bright red glaze.
Slowly add 1½ pints of gravy and simmer gently for another 30 minutes.

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.

Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,289 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + allspicetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together386 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham or bacon: Releases fat and savory flavor as it cooks, building the base of the gravy.
Butter: Carries the aromatics and helps them brown into the glaze.
Shallots: Add sweetness and a mild savory aroma as they soften.
Parsley root: Contributes earthy, aromatic flavor to the simmered gravy.
Gravy: Forms the liquid body of the sauce that the flavors are simmered into.

The step that matters

Cook the glaze over gentle heat. Shaking often and keeping the heat gentle stops the sugars and proteins in the pan from scorching before they brown into a glaze, which would make the gravy bitter.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, butter, shallot, parsley, allspice, ketchup):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, butter, shallot, parsley, allspice, ketchup. 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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Gravy, to Improve the Flavour or Strength of