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To Heighten the Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

A savory gravy base made with ham, spices, and stock, thickened with flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Heighten the Colour and the Flavour of Gravies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Melt the butter in a small stewpan and add the diced ham. Cook slowly until coloured.

  2. Add the mace, cloves, bay leaf, savory herbs, shallots (or onion), and parsley root.

Simmer the stock

  1. Gradually add the mixture to the beef stock or broth after it has simmered for 30 minutes.

  2. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes or more.

Thicken and finish

  1. If thickening is needed, stir in the flour and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the stock.

  2. Shake the pan often to detach the browning from the bottom.

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

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

  2. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean unboiled ham
Browns in the butter to add savoury, roasted flavour to the gravy.
Butter
Carries the flavours of the ham and herbs and helps the ham brown.
Shallots
Add a mild sweetness and aroma as they soften into the liquid.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it has more body.
Beef stock or strong broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the body and flavour of the gravy.

The step that matters

Shake the pan often to detach the browning from the bottom. Browned bits stuck to the pan can scorch and taste bitter if left alone. Loosening them keeps the colour and savoury flavour in the gravy rather than burnt.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, clove, shallot, parsley, flour, beef):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, clove, shallot, parsley, flour, beef. 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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