Skip to main content
Main

To Heighten the Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

A ham-based seasoning mixture that brightens and flavors gravies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 the Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ham base

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

  2. Shake the pan often to detach the browning while the ham is stewing.

  3. Ensure the side of the pan is coloured reddish‑brown before adding the stock.

  4. Add the mace, cloves, bay leaf, herbs, shallots or onion, and parsley root.

Stew and simmer

  1. Stew the mixture for 30 minutes.

  2. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.

  3. If thickening is needed, stir in flour.

  4. 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 unboiled ham
Browns in the butter to give the base its savoury, roasted flavour.
Butter
Carries the ham's browning and adds richness to the base.
Shallots or onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it cooks down.
Flour
Thickens the liquid so the gravy enhancer has more body.

The step that matters

Browning the pan side before adding stock. Reddish‑brown caramelised residue on the pan gives the enhancer its colour and depth. Pale browning yields a weak, washed-out flavour, so brown fully before adding liquid.

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.

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes