Why it works: Vinegar and tarragon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
How to Prepare Sour Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
Reduce the vinegar
Pour the vinegar into a saucepan.
Add the tarragon and peppercorns.
Let it reduce to half.
Finish the sour gravy
Add double the volume of clear gravy.
Bring the liquid to a boil twice.
Strain it through a sieve.
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.
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Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,547 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
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the sour flavour of the gravy.
- Tarragon
- Adds a fresh, aromatic herbal note that infuses into the hot liquid.
- Peppercorns
- Contribute a mild, pungent warmth as they steep in the reduced vinegar.
- Gravy
- Supplies the liquid base, body and savoury flavour, diluting the concentrated vinegar.
The step that matters
Let it reduce to half. Reducing the vinegar concentrates its acidity and the tarragon and peppercorn flavours. Reducing it too far makes the final gravy harsh and overly sharp once the gravy is added.
“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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