Name: Another Way to Make Gravy
Ingredients: 1 beef liver; coarse sea salt; brown sugar; 1 ounce saltpetre; 3 ounces common salt; 1 carrot; 1 onion; pepper; 1 pint water

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Another Way to Make Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the liver

Dip the beef liver in water and wipe it dry.
Rub the liver with coarse sea salt and brown sugar.
Let it sit for 7-8 days, turning it frequently.
Boil 1 ounce of saltpetre and 3 ounces of common salt in enough water to cover the liver.
Wipe the liver dry and place it in the brine.
Let it sit for 6 weeks, then hang it to dry.

Make the gravy

Boil a slice of the liver (about the size of three fingers), a carrot, an onion, and some pepper in 1 pint of water for 1.5 hours.
Strain the mixture and use it for gravy.

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.

Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef liver: Forms the body of the cure and gives the gravy its rich, meaty flavour.
Saltpetre: Helps the cured liver keep its pink colour and resist spoilage during the long cure.
Common salt: Draws out moisture and preserves the liver during the brining stage.
Brown sugar: Balances the salt with mild sweetness and helps the cure taste rounder.
Onion: Adds savoury aroma and depth to the simmered gravy liquid.

The step that matters

Brining for 6 weeks. The long brine is what preserves the liver. Salt and curing agents must fully cover the meat, so it has to stay submerged in the brine for the whole period, or it can spoil.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, liver, sugar, carrot, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Parsnipfits about as well
Potatofits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, liver, sugar, carrot, pepper. 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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Another Way to Make Gravy