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Rich Deep-coloured Veal Gravy

A rich gravy made by stewing veal with ham, broth, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Rich Deep-coloured Veal Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large thick stewpan or saucepan, lay the sliced ham.

  2. Place the veal on top of the ham.

Make the glaze

  1. Pour in ½ pint of broth and heat over a brisk fire until well reduced.

  2. Insert a knife into the meat and continue stewing gently until a glaze forms.

  3. Shake the stewpan frequently and watch the gravy closely to prevent burning.

  4. When the gravy is a fine deep amber color, add enough boiling broth to cover the meat.

  5. Add the parsley, mushrooms, green onions, mace, white peppercorns, and celery.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

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

  5. Mushroom + celerytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,006 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the meat and body that the gravy is built from as it stews.
Ham
Gives savory, salty depth to the gravy as it cooks down beneath the veal.
Broth
Supplies the liquid that reduces into a concentrated, glossy glaze.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Reducing to a deep amber glaze. The gravy must reduce until the meat and pan sugars caramelize into an amber glaze without scorching. Too little heat leaves it pale and thin; too much burns the bottom and turns it bitter. Frequent shaking and close watching keep browning even.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

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