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Roast Goose or Duck

A roasted goose or duck stuffed with seasoned mashed potatoes, sage, onion, salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Goose or Duck

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Singe and wash the skin of the goose or duck thoroughly.

  2. Flatten the breast bone by striking it with a rolling pin.

Stuff and roast

  1. Stuff the bird partly full with highly seasoned mashed potatoes mixed with sage, onion, coarse sea salt, pepper, and a little butter.

  2. Place the stuffed bird in a deep pan and baste often.

  3. Cook for 18 minutes per pound for a young goose or duck, or 1-2 hours for an older one.

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. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Potato + sagetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together386 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Goose or duck
Provides the main meat and rendered fat that browns and flavors the dish as it roasts.
Mashed potatoes
Fill the cavity, absorbing juices and fat so the stuffing stays moist and flavorful.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the potato stuffing, helping it taste rounder and feel softer.
Onion
Adds savory, aromatic flavor to the potato stuffing as it cooks inside the bird.

The step that matters

Cook for 18 minutes per pound for a young goose or duck, or 1-2 hours for an older one.. Cooking time depends on the bird's age and weight. Too little time leaves the meat undercooked, while too much dries it out, so check doneness rather than relying on time alone.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, pepper, butter):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, pepper, butter. 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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