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Gravy, Beef

A simple beef gravy made by simmering beef pieces in stock or water, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Gravy, Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the beef into small pieces and place them in a covered saucepan.

  2. Cook gently until the juices run from the meat.

  3. Glaze the meat in the saucepan.

Make the gravy

  1. Add enough stock or water to cover the meat.

  2. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Strain the gravy and serve.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meat flavor and the juices that the gravy is built on.
Stock or water
Adds liquid that simmers with the meat and carries its flavor into the gravy.

The step that matters

Cook gently until the juices run from the meat. Gentle heat draws out the juices and browns the surface without toughening the meat. Vigorous boiling makes the meat tough and leaves the gravy cloudy.

“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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