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A Very Rich Gravy

A thick gravy made from beef and veal stock, carrots, onions, spices, and a butter‑flour roux, seasoned with sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

A Very Rich Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine beef and veal stock in a saucepan.

  2. Add carrot, onion, mace, cloves, pepper, and sweet herbs.

  3. Stew for some time.

  4. Roll butter in flour, then add the roux to the saucepan.

  5. Set over low heat for 6-7 minutes, shaking often.

  6. Season with coarse sea salt.

  7. 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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef stock
Forms the savory liquid base that gives the gravy its main body and flavor.
Veal stock
Adds gelatin and a rich, full mouthfeel to the gravy.
Butter
Enriches the gravy with fat and flavor while helping form the roux.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as it cooks with the butter into a roux.

The step that matters

Adding the roux to the simmering stock. Flour needs to be cooked and dispersed evenly; whisking or shaking the roux in prevents lumps and lets the starch thicken the liquid smoothly as it heats.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, carrot, onion, clove, pepper, butter. 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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