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Gravy for Roast Poultry and Game

A savory gravy made from boiled giblets, fat, flour, and seasonings.

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 ↓

Gravy for Roast Poultry and Game

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the giblets

  1. Boil the giblets in 1 quart of water until tender and reduced to 1 pint.

  2. Mash the liver.

  3. Chop the gizzard, heart, and neck meat if desired.

Make the gravy

  1. Pour off the clear fat from the dripping pan into a saucepan.

  2. Rinse the pan with the giblet boiling water and add it to the saucepan.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of fat in a small frying pan.

  5. Add enough dry flour to absorb the fat.

  6. When the flour is brown, gradually add the giblet liquor.

  7. Stir until thickened.

  8. Season with salt and pepper.

  9. If not smooth, strain the gravy.

Serve

  1. Pour half into a gravy boat.

  2. Mix the chopped giblets into the remaining half.

  3. Serve separately.

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

Dry flour
Browns in the fat and thickens the liquid into a smooth gravy.
Giblets
Provide the simmered broth base and rich meaty flavor for the gravy.
Fat from the dripping pan
Carries flavor and, once combined with flour, forms the thickening base.

The step that matters

Browning the flour in the fat. Cooking the flour in fat until brown develops nutty flavor and color, and it must be stirred continuously so it does not scorch. Adding liquid too early or too fast can leave lumps, so the liquor should be added gradually while stirring.

“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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