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Gravy From Shin of Beef Stock

A gravy made by simmering beef stock with cloves, bay leaf, savory herbs, shallots or onion, parsley root, and optional flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Gravy From Shin of Beef Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Add the cloves, bay leaf, savory herbs, shallots or onion, and parsley root to the beef stock or broth.

  2. Stew the mixture slowly for 30 minutes.

  3. Boil for an additional 20 minutes.

Brown and thicken

  1. Ensure the side of the stewpan is colored reddish brown before mixing in the stock.

  2. If thickening is needed, stir in flour and simmer for 3-4 minutes before adding stock.

  3. Shake the pan often to detach the browning while the ham is stewing.

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

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

  2. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef stock or broth
Provides the savory liquid base that the gravy is built on.
Shallots or onion
Adds mild sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as it simmers, giving the gravy body.
Cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice to the stock.
Bay leaf
Adds a subtle herbal aroma as it steeps in the stock.

The step that matters

Browning the side of the stewpan. Browned surfaces develop deeper color and savory flavor through the Maillard reaction. If the pan side is not reddish brown before the stock goes in, the gravy will taste flat and pale.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, parsley, beef, flour):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, parsley, beef, flour. 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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