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Blood or Veal Gravy

A savory gravy made by stewing ham, veal, and stock, seasoned with mushrooms, parsley, and green onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Blood or Veal Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. In a thick stewpan, place a few slices of ham.

  2. Layer slices of lean veal over the ham.

  3. Half cover the meat with jelly stock and stew over a brisk fire, ensuring it does not burn.

Brown the meat

  1. When the broth is reduced, insert a knife into the meat to let the gravy run out.

  2. Stew gently until the meat is brown, turning it frequently.

  3. When the meat is a dark red color, moisten it with hot stock.

Finish and clarify

  1. Season with shredded mushrooms, parsley, and green onions.

  2. After boiling for an hour, skim and strain the gravy through a tammy to clarify.

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. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

  4. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,486 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Slices of lean veal
Provides the meat that cooks down and browns to flavor the gravy.
Jelly stock
Adds body and gelatin-rich liquid that reduces into a glossy, flavorful gravy.
Slices of ham
Lays a savory, salty base that enriches the flavor of the gravy.
Hot stock
Moistens the browned meat and extends the liquid to make the gravy.
Shredded mushrooms
Contributes earthy aroma and savory flavor to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Stewing the meat until brown without burning. Browning the meat in a little liquid builds deep, savory flavor through caramelization, but too-high heat scorches the proteins and sugars and makes the gravy bitter. Gentle, frequent turning keeps the meat browned evenly.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, mushroom, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, mushroom, onion. 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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