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A Rich Cullis, or Gravy

A gravy made by stewing sliced beef, veal, mutton, bacon, onions, carrots, mace, cloves, pepper, bay leaves, flour, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

A Rich Cullis, or Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Layer and brown

  1. Cover the bottom of a saucepan with veal slices.

  2. Add a few slices of fat bacon, then a layer of beef.

  3. Add sliced onions, sliced carrots, mace, cloves, black pepper, Jamaica pepper, and bay leaves.

  4. Top with mutton slices and cover the pan tightly.

  5. Set on low heat and cook until the meat is browned.

Thicken and stew

  1. Mix flour with water until smooth, then stir it into the pan.

  2. Add enough boiling water to cover the meat and a little salt.

  3. Cover the pan tightly and let it stew for 1.5 hours.

Strain and store

  1. Strain the mixture and store for up to 10 days.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor of the gravy.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich body and a mild, delicate meat flavor to the gravy.
Mutton
Contributes deeper meat flavor and richness as it stews slowly.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that carries aroma and enriches the texture of the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the gravy becomes smooth and coats the meat.

The step that matters

Cook the meat until browned on low heat. Browning builds the Maillard flavors that give the gravy depth. Keeping the heat low and the pan covered lets the meat release juices and brown gently without scorching.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, veal, mutton, onion, carrot, clove, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, veal, mutton, onion, carrot, clove, 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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