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Stewed Giblets

A savory stew of goose neck, feet, pinions, liver, and gizzard simmered in butter, herbs, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stewed Giblets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald and skin the feet, open the gizzard, and wash all thoroughly.

  2. Divide the neck into small pieces.

Make the gravy

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter until brown, then add the sliced onion.

  2. Brown the flour in the saucepan.

  3. Gradually add 1 pint of stock or water, stirring until it boils.

  4. Add the giblets and all other ingredients.

  5. Simmer slowly for 2 hours.

Serve

  1. Dish neatly and strain the gravy over the giblets.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Browned in the pan, it adds a nutty, rich flavour to the gravy base.
Flour
Browned with the butter and then thickened with stock, it gives the gravy body.
Goose liver
Breaks down during slow simmering, adding richness and depth to the gravy.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding savoury aroma to the gravy.

The step that matters

Browning the flour. Flour cooked in fat must be stirred while it browns, or it scorches and turns bitter. Adding stock too early or cold can leave lumps, so it is added gradually while stirring.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, butter, onion, parsley, pepper, flour):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, butter, onion, parsley, pepper, 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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