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Beef Gravy

A hearty beef gravy made by simmering beef, veal, carrots, onions, cloves, bay leaves, parsley, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Beef Gravy

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Beef Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine beef steaks, veal, carrots, onions, cloves, bay leaves, parsley, and broth in a stewpan.

  2. Set over medium heat.

Make the gravy

  1. Reduce, then cover.

  2. Cook until the meat releases gravy and the bottom is nearly black.

  3. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

  4. Add more broth or water to the stewpan and simmer for 3 hours.

  5. Skim and season to taste.

  6. Strain if using water instead of broth.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Release juices and collagen that form the body and savory depth of the gravy.
Veal knuckle
Adds gelatin from bone and connective tissue, giving the gravy a richer, silkier body.
Onions
Caramelize on the bottom of the pan, adding sweetness and deep color to the gravy.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the simmering liquid.

The step that matters

Cooking until the bottom is nearly black. Browning the meat and vegetables on the pan bottom builds deep, roasted flavor and color through the Maillard reaction and caramelization. Stopping too early leaves the gravy pale and flat, while pushing past near-black risks bitter, burnt notes.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, carrot, onion, parsley):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, onion, parsley. 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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