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Gravy for Widgeon

A lemon and port gravy for widgeon, made with veal stock, basil, onion, lemon rind, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,823 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Gravy for Widgeon

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gravy

  1. Combine veal stock, lemon rind, basil, and onion in a saucepan.

  2. Bring to a boil for a few minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Add lemon juice, port, salt, and cayenne to the strained stock.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

  2. Alternatively, melt butter in a saucepan, stir in strained lemon juice, and add salt and cayenne.

  3. Serve hot in 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. Lemon + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,823 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Basil + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,600 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal stock
Forms the savoury liquid base of the gravy.
Port
Adds depth, sweetness and a rich aroma to the gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the gravy.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, smoother mouthfeel.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, lemon, basil, butter):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, lemon, basil, butter. 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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