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A Rich Cullis. or Gravy

A rich gravy made from beef, veal, mutton, bacon, onions, carrots, spices, flour, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 Rich Cullis. or Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Slice the lean beef, veal, and mutton.

  2. Place veal at the bottom of a saucepan.

  3. Add a few slices of fat bacon, then a layer of beef.

  4. Add sliced onions and the red part of one or two carrots.

  5. Season with a little mace, two or three cloves, whole black pepper, Jamaica pepper, and two or three bay leaves.

  6. Top with mutton and cover the pan tightly.

Brown and stew

  1. Cook over a slow fire until the meat is browned.

  2. Mix a small quantity of flour with water until smooth, then stir it in.

  3. Add enough boiling water to cover the meat well and a little salt.

  4. Cover the pan tightly and let it stew for an hour and a half.

  5. Strain and keep for use; it will last for eight to ten days.

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. Onion + carrottop 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

Lean beef
Provides the main meaty flavour and body as it cooks down into the gravy.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich body and a mild meaty flavour to the stock.
Mutton
Contributes deeper, richer meat flavour to the gravy.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the meat brown in the pan.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften during stewing.
Flour
Thickens the liquid so the gravy becomes smooth and body-rich.

The step that matters

Browning the meat slowly. Slow cooking until the meat is browned builds deep, roasted flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale meat gives a flat gravy, so the surface should colour before the boiling water goes in.

Swap the mace

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

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

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