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Brown Gravy

A simple gravy made by browning flour in fat, seasoning, and adding stock or water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Brown Gravy

Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Brown Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In the pan where the meat was cooked, add flour, salt, and pepper to the fat.

  2. Stir over heat until the flour is browned.

  3. Add 1 cup of boiling water or stock.

  4. Cook until thick, then strain.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 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

Flour
Thickens the gravy and, when browned in fat, adds a nutty flavour and colour.
Fat
Carries the meat flavour and coats the flour so it browns evenly.
Stock
Forms the liquid base that the browned flour thickens into gravy.

The step that matters

Stir over heat until the flour is browned.. Flour cooked in fat develops a nutty, deeper flavour and colour. Stirring constantly prevents scorching, and flour left raw tastes pasty.

“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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