Skip to main content
Main

Brown Gravy

A savory brown gravy made from beef, ham, vegetables, and seasonings, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Brown Gravy

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Brown Gravy

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef and ham into small pieces.

  2. Slice the onion, carrot, and celery.

Bake

  1. In a large jar, layer the ham, beef, vegetables, and seasonings alternately.

  2. Pour the water over the layers.

  3. Cover the jar tightly to prevent steam from escaping.

  4. Place the jar in a 350°F (175°C) oven and bake for 6 to 8 hours.

  5. If the oven is hot, reduce the time to about 5 hours.

Finish the gravy

  1. Strain the gravy and let it cool, then skim off the grease.

  2. If desired, flavor with wine and thicken with a little corn‑starch blended with cold water, boiling for 2 to 3 minutes.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Breaks down during long baking, releasing gelatin and flavour into the liquid for body.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty depth to the broth as it slowly cooks.
Water
Acts as the cooking liquid that extracts flavour from the meat and vegetables.
Onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma to the broth as it cooks down.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the finished gravy.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savoury background flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Covering the jar tightly. A tight seal keeps steam in so the liquid does not evaporate over the long bake. Losing liquid would concentrate the gravy unevenly and dry the meat, so the flavour and body stay in the pot rather than the oven.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, onion, carrot, celery):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, onion, carrot, celery. 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.

More brown gravy recipes

English 15Soup 10Rich 6Vegetable 3 See all 87 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipes