Name: Orange Gravy Sauce, for Wild Ducks, Woodcocks, Snipes, Widgeon, and Teal
Ingredients: ½ pint veal gravy; 6 leaves basil; 1 small onion

Why it works: Basil and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,600 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Orange Gravy Sauce, for Wild Ducks, Woodcocks, Snipes, Widgeon, and Teal

Ingredients

½ pint veal gravy
6 leaves basil
1 small onion

Directions

In a saucepan, heat ½ pint of veal gravy.
Add 6 leaves of basil and 1 small onion to the gravy.
Simmer until the flavors meld.

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.

Basil + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,600 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + basiltop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together345 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal gravy: Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries the flavor of the other ingredients.
Basil: Adds a fresh, aromatic herbal note that lifts the rich gravy.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens and infuses the gravy.