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To Make Gravy

A savory gravy made by simmering beef, veal, mutton, bacon, carrot, onion, and herbs with spices, thickened with flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Make Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large deep saucepan, layer the beef, mutton, bacon, carrot, mace, cloves, black and white pepper, onion, and sweet herbs.

  2. Top with the veal and cover the saucepan tightly.

Make the gravy

  1. Cook over low heat for 6-7 minutes, shaking occasionally.

  2. Sprinkle in some flour and pour in boiling water until the meat is covered plus a little extra.

  3. Cover again and let it stew until rich and flavorful.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt to taste and strain before serving.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meaty body and rich flavor of the gravy as it stews.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich body and a delicate meaty flavor to the stock.
Mutton
Contributes savory, fuller meat flavor to the stewed gravy.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the gravy becomes smooth and lightly body-rich.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens into the stock.

The step that matters

Cover the saucepan tightly and stew gently. Tight covering keeps moisture and aroma in the pan, while gentle low heat lets collagen in the meat break down slowly into gelatin without the liquid boiling hard and turning cloudy or tough.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, mutton, carrot, mace, clove, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, mutton, carrot, mace, clove, pepper. 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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