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Gravy in Haste

A quick gravy made with lean meat, onion, carrot, turnip, herbs, cloves, peppercorns, and water.

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 in Haste

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a thick saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped meat, onion, carrot, turnip, thyme, and parsley.

  3. Stir until the mixture is slightly browned.

  4. Add the cloves, peppercorns, and water.

  5. Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum.

  6. Let it boil for 30 minutes, then strain the gravy before serving.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean meat
Provides the main savory flavor and body of the gravy as it cooks down into the liquid.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savory depth as it softens and browns in the butter.
Butter
Carries the heat for browning the vegetables and meat and adds richness.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and body to the liquid as it simmers.
Turnip
Adds subtle sweetness and body to the liquid as it simmers.

The step that matters

Skimming off any scum when the mixture comes to a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise to the surface. Removing it keeps the gravy clear and free of bitter or off flavors.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, carrot, turnip, thyme, parsley, butter, clove):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, carrot, turnip, thyme, parsley, butter, clove. 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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