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To Heighten Tiie Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

A method to deepen the colour and flavour of gravies using ham, spices, and optional flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Heighten Tiie Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. In a small saucepan, slowly color the diced ham in butter.

  2. Add mace, cloves, bay leaf, savory herbs, shallots or onion, and parsley root.

  3. Stew the mixture for 30 minutes.

Add stock and simmer

  1. Add the mixture to the beef stock or broth.

  2. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes or more. Shake the pan often to detach the browning from the sides.

  3. If thickening is needed, stir in flour and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes before adding stock.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  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 ham
Browns in butter to add savory, roasted flavor to the stock.
Butter
Carries the browning of the ham and adds richness.
Shallots or onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens into the base.
Beef stock or broth
Forms the liquid body of the gravy enhancer and carries its flavor.
Flour
Thickens the liquid to give the gravy more body, if needed.

The step that matters

Coloring the ham slowly in butter. Slow heat lets the ham brown gradually through the Maillard reaction, building flavor without scorching. Scorched bits would turn the gravy bitter and dark.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, clove, shallot, parsley, beef, flour):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, clove, shallot, parsley, beef, flour. 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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