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Gravy or Soup Meats

A broth made by simmering a ham joint with aromatics, then using the stock for sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Gravy or Soup Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham

  1. Soak the ham joint, scrape it, and clean it thoroughly.

  2. Place the ham in an earthen vessel that fits it closely and cover the ham with water.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the onions, garlic, shallots, bay leaf, herbs, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice.

  2. Seal the vessel and simmer for about 3 hours.

  3. Remove the rind from the ham.

  4. Serve with raspings or glazing.

  5. Strain the cooking liquid and save it for later use.

  6. Add the reserved liquid when boiling poultry or meat.

Reduce and set

  1. Boil down until reduced to about 3 pints.

  2. Let it cool; it will form a flavorful jelly for sauces.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham joint
Provides the meat and rind that give the stock its savory, rich flavor.
Onions
Add sweetness and depth of flavor as they cook slowly in the liquid.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion flavor that rounds out the stock.
Fresh herbs
Contribute aromatic notes such as thyme, parsley, and basil to the liquid.

The step that matters

Boil down until reduced to about 3 pints. Reducing concentrates the flavor of the liquid, and the natural gelatin from the ham rind and joint is what allows the cooled stock to set into a jelly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, clove, garlic, shallot, thyme, parsley, basil):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, clove, garlic, shallot, thyme, parsley, basil. 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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