Why it works: Haddock and flour work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 401 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Brown Gravy for Haddock
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Pour the fat from the tin into a saucepan.
Dredge a little flour into the fat and brown it in the oven at 400°F (200°C), being careful not to burn it.
Pour in a little hot water and stir well.
Return the mixture to the oven to boil.
Strain the gravy and serve it with the fish.
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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Haddock + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together401 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fat from cooking haddock
- Provides the flavorful base that the flour cooks into and carries the gravy's taste.
- A little flour
- Thickens the gravy and, when browned in fat, adds a nutty, toasted flavor.
- Hot water
- Loosens the browned flour and fat into a smooth, pourable gravy.
The step that matters
Browning the flour in the fat. Flour that browns too far turns bitter and dark, and it will taste burnt in the finished gravy. Watch it closely in the hot oven and stop once it is golden brown.
“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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