Why it works: Onion and sage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,628 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Gravy for Roast Goose
Ingredients
Directions
Fry the giblets and onion in hot fat until brown.
Add the stock and boil for 2–3 hours.
Strain the mixture and add more stock to reach the desired quantity.
Season and thicken with 1 teaspoon of roux per quart.
If desired, add a glass of claret or port and reheat without boiling.
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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Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Giblets
- Browning in hot fat and simmering build the deep, savoury flavour of the gravy.
- Onion
- Browning and simmering add sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
- Roux
- Flour and fat thicken the strained liquid into a smooth, body-rich gravy.
- Brown stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries and concentrates the gravy's flavour.
The step that matters
Thicken with roux, then reheat without boiling. Roux thickens best when whisked into a hot, not boiling, liquid, and boiling after adding claret or port can dull its aroma and make the gravy taste harsh.
“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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