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Rich Pale Veal Gravy, Or, Consommee

A pale veal consommé made with ham, veal neck, broth, onion, herbs, celery, carrot, mace, peppercorns, and optional mushrooms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Rich Pale Veal Gravy, Or, Consommee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Arrange the ham and veal in a stewpan.

  2. Pour in the broth or water.

  3. Add salt, onion, herbs, celery, carrot, mace, and peppercorns.

Stew and strain

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and stew gently for 4 hours.

  2. Strain the gravy and let it cool to remove fat.

Finish

  1. Add mushroom buttons for extra flavor if desired.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of veal
Releases collagen and gelatin into the broth, giving the consommé body and a silky mouthfeel.
Strong beef or veal broth
Provides the savory liquid base that the meat and vegetables flavor during the long stew.
Lean ham
Adds a cured, savory depth to the broth.
Mild onion
Contributes sweetness and aromatic background flavor as it stews.

The step that matters

Stewing gently after the boil. Once the liquid boils, it should be reduced to a gentle simmer. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and emulsifies fat into it, while slow simmering keeps it clear and lets collagen dissolve gradually.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, beef, onion, celery, carrot, mushroom):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, beef, onion, celery, carrot, mushroom. 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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