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Gravy Soup

A hearty soup made with beef, ham, onions, liver, celery, beet leaves, and served with fried toast cubes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Combine the beef, ham, water, and onions in a large pot.

  2. Set over low heat and let it boil gently.

  3. Add the ox liver and continue to simmer until cooked.

  4. Strain the soup through a fine sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Add chopped celery and beet leaves.

  2. Cut the fried toast into small cubes and serve with the soup.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + livertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shank
Releases flavor and body into the broth as it simmers.
Ham shank
Adds savory, salty depth to the broth during long simmering.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook down.
Ox liver
Adds a rich, mineral-like depth and body to the broth.

The step that matters

Adding the ox liver and simmering until cooked. Liver cooks quickly and turns grainy and tough if overcooked. Keeping the heat gentle and watching for doneness helps it stay tender while the broth stays clear.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, onion, liver):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Pepperfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, onion, liver. 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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