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Shallot Gravy, for Broiled Cutlets, Etc

A savory shallot gravy made with vinegar, salt, pepper, brown gravy, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,898 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Shallot Gravy, for Broiled Cutlets, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine minced shallots, vinegar, salt, and coarse pepper.

  2. Boil gently for 5 minutes.

  3. Add brown gravy and sugar, then boil again until the sauce is flavored.

Serve

  1. Strain the sauce into a tureen.

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. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Shallot + sugartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together817 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Shallots
Provide the main savory aroma and mild sharpness that flavours the sauce as it simmers.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances the richness of the gravy.
Brown gravy
Supplies the body and meaty base flavour of the sauce.
Sugar
Adds a small amount of sweetness to balance the acidity of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Boil again until the sauce is flavored. Boiling concentrates the liquid and drives off harsh vinegar notes while the shallot and gravy flavours blend. Stopping too early can leave the sauce sharp and thin, while overboiling makes it salty and overly reduced.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cabbagefits better
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, sugar. 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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