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Soup

Gravy Soup

A beef broth flavored with peppercorns, cloves, mace, herbs, soy sauce, mushroom ketchup, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Gravy Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef, knuckle bone, peppercorns, cloves, mace, parsley, marjoram, thyme, carrots, onion, celery, salt, sugar, soy sauce, mushroom ketchup, and water.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4 hours.

  3. Remove the meat and bones, and continue to simmer the soup for an additional hour.

  4. Strain the soup through a fine sieve.

Chill and serve

  1. Once cooled, remove any fat from the surface.

  2. When ready to serve, reheat the soup and stir in the sugar, soy sauce, and mushroom ketchup.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  5. Marjoram + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Releases gelatin and meaty flavour into the broth as it simmers for hours.
Knuckle bone
Adds gelatin and body, giving the broth a richer mouthfeel.
Onion
Contributes savoury sweetness and aroma as it cooks down in the broth.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and aroma to the stock.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds deep savoury umami flavour to the finished broth.
Soy sauce
Adds savoury depth and salty umami to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Simmering gently for 4 hours. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy and greasy, while a gentle simmer lets collagen and flavour extract slowly and keeps the liquid clear.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, parsley, marjoram, thyme, carrot, onion):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, parsley, marjoram, thyme, carrot, onion. 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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