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Gravy, Shallot

A gravy made with sliced shallots, wine vinegar, and brown gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,374 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Gravy, Shallot

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Peel and slice the shallots.

  2. Place them in an earthenware saucepan with the wine vinegar.

  3. Boil for 10 minutes.

  4. Add the brown gravy and serve.

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. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Shallot + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

What each ingredient does

Shallots
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding mild onion-like flavor to the gravy.
Wine vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps reduce the shallots.
Brown gravy
Provides the savory base and body that the shallots and vinegar are added to.

The step that matters

Boil for 10 minutes. The shallots and vinegar must reduce enough to concentrate their flavor and soften the shallot pieces before the gravy is added. Too little boiling leaves harsh vinegar taste and firm shallots.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, vinegar):

  1. Tomatofits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Mustardfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, vinegar. 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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