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Gravy for Steaks

A rich gravy made from simmered meat liquor, butter, flour, wine, mushroom ketchup, salt, and pepper, served over steaks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Gravy for Steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Make the liquor

  1. Simmer the liquor gently for about 1½ hours.

  2. Strain off as much as needed for the sauce.

Make the gravy

  1. Melt the butter in a stew-pan.

  2. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff paste.

  3. Add the claret or port wine, mushroom ketchup, salt, and black pepper.

  4. Gradually add the strained liquor.

  5. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  6. Let it cook for 15 minutes.

  7. Skim the sauce.

  8. Strain it.

Serve

  1. Serve over the steaks with onions around the 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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Port wine + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Liquor
Forms the savoury meat-based body of the gravy.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat and helps carry flavour.
Flour
Thickens the liquor into a smooth, stiff base for the sauce.
Claret or port wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Mushroom ketchup
Contributes concentrated savoury, umami flavour.

The step that matters

Gradually add the strained liquor. Adding liquid slowly to the flour and butter paste lets starch disperse evenly, preventing lumps and giving a smooth, well-thickened gravy.

“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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