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Rich Pale Veal Gravy, or Consomme

A clear veal consommé made with neck of veal, ham, parsley, green onions, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Rich Pale Veal Gravy, or Consomme

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Arrange the slices of ham with the veal in a saucepan.

  2. Add enough water to cover the meat.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

  2. Add parsley, green onions, and salt.

  3. Cook until the liquid reduces and thickens.

Finish

  1. Strain the gravy 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. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  2. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

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

  4. Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 recipes

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

  5. Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,159 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of veal
Provides the meat and connective tissue that flavour the liquid as it simmers.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth during simmering.
Water (in the method)
Extracts flavour from the meat and ham to form the consommé base.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after reaching a boil. Once the liquid boils, reducing the heat to a gentle simmer keeps it clear. A hard boil churns fat and proteins into the liquid, making it cloudy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Celeryfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion. 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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