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Gravy or Soup Meats

A broth made by simmering a ham with aromatics, then used as gravy or soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Gravy or Soup Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham.

  2. Scrape the ham.

  3. Clean the ham thoroughly.

  4. Place the ham in an earthen vessel and cover it with water.

Simmer

  1. Add the onions, garlic, shallots, bay leaf, herbs, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice.

  2. Cover the vessel and simmer for about 3 hours.

  3. Remove the rind from the ham.

  4. Serve the ham with raspings or glazing.

Make the broth

  1. Strain the cooking liquid and save it.

  2. Add the reserved liquid to the boiling poultry or meat.

  3. Boil down until reduced to about 3 pints.

  4. Let the liquid cool; it will form a flavorful jelly for sauces.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Supplies the meat and flavor that season the broth as it simmers.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the broth as they cook down.
Shallots
Contribute a mild, sweet aromatic flavor to the liquid.
Fresh herbs
Add aromatic, herbal notes to the simmering liquid.
Whole cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Boil down to about 3 pints. Reducing the strained liquid concentrates its flavor. Boiling too hard or too long can make it overly salty or bitter, so watch the volume and stop near the target.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, clove, garlic, shallot, thyme, parsley, sage):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, clove, garlic, shallot, thyme, parsley, sage. 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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