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Veal Gravy

A savory gravy made from veal slices and ham, simmered in water until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Veal and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,264 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Veal Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pan, brown the veal slices over medium heat.

  2. Add the diced ham and cook until the meat is well browned.

  3. Pour in water, ensuring it is added at the right time to maintain flavor.

  4. Simmer until the gravy thickens, stirring occasionally.

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

Veal
Provides the meaty base and protein that browns and gives the gravy its savory body.
Ham
Adds salty, savory flavor and rendered fat that helps the meat brown and deepens the gravy.

The step that matters

Brown the veal well. Browning drives the Maillard reaction, which builds the deep, savory flavor of the gravy. Crowded or wet meat steams instead of browning, leaving the gravy pale and flat.

“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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