Why it works: Clove and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Garlic Puree
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the garlic
Skin the cloves of garlic.
Cook them in a saucepan of boiling water, changing the water every 2 minutes, until soft.
Add salt to the last water.
Make the puree
Pound the garlic and mix in gravy or brown sauce to make a thick puree.
For roast mutton, use the plain gravy from the joint; for braised meats, use the gravy from the pan or strong stock.
Heat the garlic and gravy mixture together for a short time and serve very hot.
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.
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Garlic + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,007 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Clove + saucetop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,089 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Garlic
- Provides the main flavour and, once softened and pounded, forms the body of the puree.
- Gravy or brown sauce
- Adds moisture and savoury depth, letting the garlic blend into a thick, spoonable puree.
The step that matters
Cooking the garlic in changing water. Garlic is boiled in fresh water every 2 minutes so that its sharp, harsh flavour leaches out while the cloves soften, leaving a milder, smoother puree.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Cuminfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, sauce. 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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