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Soup

Gravy Soup

A hearty soup made from beef shin, onions, water, and strong gravy, seasoned with pepper, sea salt, celery, and beet leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Put the shin of beef and water in a pot with the onions.

  2. Bring to a gentle boil until the meat releases all its juice.

  3. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

Finish the soup

  1. Add the strong gravy to the strained liquid to make it brown.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. Add celery and beet leaves, and boil until tender.

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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Releases juice and flavour into the water, giving the broth its meaty body.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they simmer.
Strong gravy
Adds colour and concentrated savoury flavour, browning the broth.
Celery
Contributes a mild, aromatic vegetable flavour as it softens in the broth.

The step that matters

Bring to a gentle boil until the meat releases all its juice. A gentle simmer lets collagen and juices release slowly, so the broth stays clear and rich. A hard boil can emulsify fat into the liquid and cloud it.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, celery):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, celery. 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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