Name: For Gravies for Ducks and Other Meats
Ingredients: 1 ounce ginger; 1 ounce mustard; 1 ounce black pepper; 3 ounces coriander seed; 3 ounces turmeric; ¼ ounce cayenne pepper; ½ ounce cardamom; ½ ounce cumin seed; ½ ounce cinnamon

Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

For Gravies for Ducks and Other Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Make the spice mix

Mix all the spices together.
Pound the mixture very fine.
Sift the mixture.

Store

Store in a tightly corked bottle.

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.

Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,698 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,866 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Turmeric + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together667 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cardamom + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,299 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Coriander seed: Provides the main citrusy, warm aroma that forms the base of the blend.
Turmeric: Adds earthy flavour and a deep yellow colour to the mix.
Black pepper: Contributes sharp heat and pungency that balances the warm spices.
Ginger: Adds warm, pungent aroma and a gentle lingering heat.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that brightens the blend.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture very fine. Fine, evenly ground spices release their aromatic oils and blend uniformly into gravy. Coarse pieces stay gritty and give uneven flavour.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, pepper, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon):

Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, pepper, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon. 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.

Ginger Pop22 recipes

Ginger Wine12 recipes

Ginger Beer11 recipes

Cinnamon Tincture10 recipes

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For Gravies for Ducks and Other Meats