The chemistry of perfect gravy
Posted by Jon on Thu 22 Oct 2009Categories: Food , RSC in the media | [14] Comments
As reported already by the Sun and the Daily Mail, the RSC has once more stepped into the kitchen with a chemistry-based recipe for the perfect gravy.
This follows the success of last year’s ideal Yorkshire puddings (popovers to our American friends) – and the decree that they cannot be named so unless they rise to four inches or higher. Chemist, author and roast dinner expert John Emsley has issued a new recipe for nutrionally-balanced, chemically-perfect and extremely tasty gravy in the tradional fashion… sort of.
It combines some traditional elements with some chemistry magic – most controversial is the inclusion of soya sauce, normally associated with Eastern cuisine but here included in the quintessential Englishman’s Sunday roast.
Here’s John’s recipe:
Ingredients
The juices from a roast joint of meat, preferably beef
Flour
Vegetable water (cabbage)
Iodised salt
Teaspoon of dark soya sauce.
Pepper
Gravy browning if you prefer a darker gravy.
Method
The joint should be cooked on a bed of halved onions, carrots and celery on to which juices from the meat will slowly trickle. When the meat is cooked, remove it from the roasting tin along with the vegetables. Sprinkle a small amount of plain flour over the meat juices and fat. Stir to form a dough (roux) gradually adding the water in which vegetables have been cooked, preferably cabbage water. Ensure all the meat juices and Marmite-like deposits on the bottom of the roasting dish have dissolved. Then add iodised salt to taste and a teaspoon of dark soya sauce (rather than gravy browning) or a little red wine . Simmer to reduce the volume of liquid to the right consistency, stirring occasionally.
Chemical and nutritional composition of gravy
Protein from the collagen of the meat.
Vitamins, and especially B1, B6, folic acid, riboflavin and nicotinic acid.
Carbohydrate from the flour and gravy browning. Gravy browning is caramelised sugar and can be bought, or it can be made using the recipe in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management published in 1859. This says to heat sugar until it caramelises but does not become too dark.
Minerals such as sodium and iodine.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) from the soya sauce which brings out the meaty (umami) flavour.
What do you think? Share your own best gravy recipes in the comments…
Fri 23 Oct 2009 at 09:25
Nice addition of soy sauce – worcester sauce or anchovies would probably have the same effect of boosting umami flavour by adding glutamate.
By the way – if you are interested in the organic chemistry of the world around us, I am publishing a series of videos on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/professordaveatyork
Fri 23 Oct 2009 at 10:01
[...] the Royal Society of Chemistry who have come up with the formula for the perfect gravy. Given that we tend to think of gravy as quintessentially British, you might [...]
Fri 23 Oct 2009 at 11:36
Gravy Salt, juices from a slow-roasted rib of beef, basted with a good brown beer makes for the best gravy.
Fri 23 Oct 2009 at 13:25
This recipe for the ‘ultimate’ gravy works because the glutamate in the gravy works with the 5’ribonucleotides in the meat to maximise the umami (savoury) taste. Recent research on the umami taste receptor has shown that these molecules in the meat work synergistically with the glutamate to enhance umami taste perception.
Fri 23 Oct 2009 at 15:12
[...] the RSC sounds like a very serious scientific body, its blog post on the subject today reveals that this gravy discovery; “….. follows the success of [...]
Sun 25 Oct 2009 at 10:14
Only extra suggestions I could make would be:
a) use Maggi Liquid Seasoning instead of Soy Sauce (also contains MSG)
b) Gently caremalise some Tomato puree before making the roux
Tue 27 Oct 2009 at 23:55
[...] The chemistry of perfect gravy | RSC Blog. [...]
Sat 31 Oct 2009 at 05:37
I was interested to see the inclusion of soy sauce in British gravy.
Having lived in Asia for 20 years I know the almost additive effect of soy in sauces and dips.
However only recently did I become aware of the many published research papers investigating possible health risks of soy products. It would be interesting to see an RSC review of this in Chemistry World.
For now I am sticking to British products in British gravy – Worcester Sauce, port (yes I know Portugal is not part of Britain any more) and Burgess mushroom ketchup).
Sat 31 Oct 2009 at 08:43
Somewhere in there you need to add a little crushed garlic…oh, and also a dash of wholegrain mustard. Bring on the organosulfur compds. – or organosulphur as the case may be.
Sat 31 Oct 2009 at 12:06
Soy sauce??? Being a yorkshire man it has to be Hendersons Relish or there is no point making a gravy.
Sat 31 Oct 2009 at 22:33
I was taught this 40 years ago at least! My mom always makes gravy this way (apart from the soy sauce because we never had that).
She sometimes used Marmite if the beef was a little short of deep flavour. I use Maggi.
Would you like my mom come and show you anything else?
Mon 2 Nov 2009 at 21:32
Did you hear the comment on “Have I Got News for You”? Chemists at the RSC have produced a recipe for the perfect gravy. Meanwhile, people working in the cantine were wasting their time finding a cure for cancer.
Wed 4 Nov 2009 at 16:45
[...] holidays, British chemists from the Royal Society of Chemistry have come up with a recipe for the perfect gravy. [via The Food [...]
Thu 26 Nov 2009 at 16:52
“As usual, there is an optimum level of noise”
p. 310., The Quark and the Jaguar, Murray Gel-Mann.
Lighter reading; Le Repertoire de La Cuisine, Louis Saulnier.
Watch out for that browning, it’s usually already there.