Name: Gravy for Roast Poultry
Ingredients: 1 quart water; giblets or neck; gizzard; liver; heart; flour; salt; pepper

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 ↓

Gravy for Roast Poultry

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the giblets, neck, gizzard, liver, and heart in 1 quart of water until tender and reduced by half.
Pour off excess fat from the pan.
Sprinkle flour into the pan to absorb the fat and stir until browned.
Gradually add the giblet cooking water, stirring until smooth and thick.
Strain the gravy and season with salt and pepper.
Chop the liver, gizzard, and heart finely and add to the gravy.

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).
Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,375 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,418 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).