Name: To Make Gravies for Poultry or Meat
Ingredients: meat or poultry drippings; flour; salt; pepper; boiling water

Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Make Gravies for Poultry or Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the cooked meat or poultry from the pan and keep it hot.
Drain off most of the drippings, leaving only the richest part in the pan.
Place the pan over heat and bring it to a boil.
Slowly sift in the flour to achieve your desired thickness.
Let it simmer for a few minutes without stirring to allow the flour to absorb the gravy.
Gently mix until smooth and rich brown, free from lumps.
If desired, add finely chopped giblets and their boiling water gradually.
Stir continuously until well blended and smooth, adding more boiling water if needed.

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.

Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,529 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).