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Gravy

A baked mutton loaf mixed with breadcrumbs, spices, egg, and onion, served with mashed potatoes and tomato or mushroom sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mix the minced mutton and breadcrumbs together.

  2. Add salt, mixed spice, allspice, Nepaul pepper, chopped onion, minced garlic, and parsley.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg and mix well.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered mold.

  2. Steam for about 1 hour.

  3. Turn out onto a border of mashed potatoes.

  4. Garnish with parsley and fried bread cut into fancy pieces.

  5. Serve with tomato or mushroom sauce in a separate boat.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat body and rich flavour of the loaf.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb juices and keep the loaf moist and tender while it cooks.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when turned out.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aromatic depth to the meat.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Steam for about 1 hour. Steaming cooks the meat gently with moist heat, so it sets through without drying out. Too little time leaves the centre raw or loose, while overcooking toughens the proteins and dries the loaf.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, allspice, pepper, clove, garlic, parsley, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, allspice, pepper, clove, garlic, parsley, egg. 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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