Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Giblet Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the giblets clean with warm water.
Make the stew
Melt the butter in a stewpan.
Stir in the flour until smooth.
Add the broth and giblets, and stew for 15 minutes.
Season with salt and add Lisbon wine if desired.
Chop the parsley and stir in just before serving.
Bring to a boil and serve in a tureen or soup dish.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Wine + parsleytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,400 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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
- Giblets
- Provide the main meat and flavour that the broth is built around.
- Butter
- Carries flavour and gives the stew a rich, smooth body.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth so it becomes smooth and lightly body-rich.
- Lisbon wine
- Adds acidity and depth to the broth when used.
The step that matters
Stirring in the flour until smooth. Flour clumps if it hits hot fat unevenly. Stirring it into the melted butter coats each particle so it can later thicken the broth without lumps.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, wine):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, wine. 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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