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Gravy or Soup Meats

A broth made by simmering a ham joint with water, onions, garlic, shallots, herbs, and spices, then reduced to a flavorful jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gravy or Soup Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak, scrape, and clean the ham thoroughly.

  2. Place the ham in an earthen vessel that fits it closely.

Simmer

  1. Cover the ham with water and add onions, garlic, shallots, bay leaf, herbs, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice.

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

  3. Remove the rind from the ham and serve with raspings or glazing.

Make the broth

  1. Strain the cooking liquid and save it.

  2. When boiling poultry or meat, add the saved liquid and boil down until reduced to about 3 pints.

  3. Let it cool; it will turn into a flavorful jelly, perfect 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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

Ham joint
Supplies the meat and rind, and the savory flavor that seasons the broth.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the liquid as they cook down.
Shallots
Contribute a mild, sweet onion flavor to the broth.
Whole cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavor to the cooking liquid.
Allspice berries
Add warm, aromatic spice notes to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Reducing the saved liquid. Boiling down concentrates flavor and, as the broth cools, its natural gelatin from the ham and bones sets it into a jelly. Boiling too hard or too long can make the broth overly salty or dark, so reduce gently to the stated volume.

Swap the onion

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

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

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