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To Make Giblet Gravy

A savory gravy made from turkey giblets and neck, thickened with flour and seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Giblet Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the giblets

  1. Place the giblets and neck in a saucepan.

  2. Cover with cold water.

  3. Simmer slowly until tender.

  4. Remove the neck.

  5. Chop the giblets finely.

  6. Save the cooking water.

Make the gravy

  1. Lift the turkey from the pan.

  2. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of oil.

  3. Place the pan on the stove.

  4. Bring the gravy to a boil.

  5. Stir in the flour.

  6. Cook for 2 minutes.

  7. Gradually add the reserved giblet cooking water.

  8. Adjust thickness with hot water if necessary.

  9. Add the chopped giblets.

  10. Season with salt and pepper.

  11. Serve in a gravy dish.

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. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Liver + flourtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the drippings into a smooth gravy as it cooks in the fat.
Giblets
Add savoury depth and body to the gravy once chopped and stirred in.

The step that matters

Stir in the flour. Flour must be cooked in the hot fat before liquid is added, otherwise it forms lumps and tastes raw. Adding the reserved cooking water gradually and whisking keeps the gravy smooth.

“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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