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Stock Fob Gravy

A thick beef and fish stock enriched with herbs, vegetables, and wine, used as a base for gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Stock Fob Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Place thinly cut beef in a gravy pot, cover, cook over low heat, stirring often, until juices are absorbed back into the meat.

  2. Add enough water to cover the meat and let it simmer.

  3. Add a small amount of water, herbs, onions, spices, and a bit of lean ham; simmer until rich.

Make the broth

  1. In a separate casserole, melt butter and add carrots, onions, parsley, thyme, cloves, bay leaves, and fish; season with salt and pepper.

  2. Pour in white wine and broth, cover, and simmer until everything is mashed; strain through a fine sieve.

Finish the stock

  1. In another casserole, stew mushrooms, parsley, and chives in a pint of water until flavorful; strain both liquids and heat them together.

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. Parsley + thymetop 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 + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

Lean beef
Provides the meat flavor and gelatin that give the stock body.
Butter
Carries aromatic flavors from the vegetables and herbs into the liquid.
White wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth that brighten the stock.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and body to the stock as they break down.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and depth as they cook down.
Mushrooms
Add earthy, umami flavor to the finished stock.

The step that matters

Cooking the beef until the juices are absorbed back. Cooking the meat slowly over low heat with frequent stirring lets its juices be reabsorbed rather than scorching. Gentle heat helps build a rich, concentrated flavor base for the stock.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, meat, ham, butter, carrot, parsley, thyme. 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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