Name: Gravy From Beef Stock
Ingredients: 2-3 cloves; 1 bay leaf; a few small sprigs of savory herbs; 1-2 shallots or 1 teaspoon minced onion; a little young parsley root (if available); common shin of beef stock or strong broth; 1 teaspoon flour (if thickening is needed)

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 Beef Stock

Ingredients

2-3 cloves
1 bay leaf
a few small sprigs of savory herbs
1-2 shallots or 1 teaspoon minced onion
a little young parsley root (if available)
common shin of beef stock or strong broth
1 teaspoon flour (if thickening is needed)

Directions

Add cloves, bay leaf, savory herbs, shallots, and parsley root to the beef stock or broth.
Stew the mixture slowly for 30 minutes.
Boil for an additional 20 minutes.
If thickening is needed, stir in flour and simmer for 3-4 minutes before adding stock.
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.

Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,081 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,768 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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: Forms the liquid base and supplies most of the savory, meaty flavor.
Shallots or minced onion: Adds mild sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens into the liquid.
Flour: Starch thickens the liquid into a gravy when it is simmered.
Cloves: Contributes a warm, aromatic spice note to the stock.

The step that matters

Simmering the flour. Flour must cook for a few minutes to lose its raw, pasty taste and to thicken properly. Stirring it in smoothly before adding stock helps prevent lumps, because starch granules clump when they hit hot liquid unevenly.

Swap the clove

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

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Thymefits better
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.

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

Beef Broth67 recipes

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Gravy From Beef Stock