Why it works: Arrowroot and mustard share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Gravy a LA Diable
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gravy
Mix the arrowroot with the claret.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
For a spicier sauce, increase the Worcestershire sauce or boil a few cayenne seeds in the gravy.
Serve
Serve with kidneys, steaks, or grilled fish.
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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Arrowroot + mustardtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together22 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Arrowroot + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together133 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
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the stock into a glossy sauce as it heats.
- Clear brown stock
- Forms the savory liquid base of the gravy.
- Claret
- Adds acidity and wine flavor, and is mixed with the arrowroot first.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Adds savory depth and tang to the gravy.
- French mustard
- Adds sharpness and a little heat to the sauce.
The step that matters
Mix the arrowroot with the claret before heating. Arrowroot clumps if added directly to hot liquid. Mixing it into a cold liquid first lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens smoothly when the gravy comes to a boil.
Swap the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, sauce):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Arrowrootthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, 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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