Name: Duck Breasts with Maple Syrup
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 duck breast, skin on; 4 tbsp maple syrup; 1.5 tbsp sherry vinegar; 1.5 tbsp groundnut oil; 1 tbsp hazelnut oil; 225 g wild mushrooms (girolles, trompettes, CEOs, oyster mushrooms); 25 g butter; 2 x 250 bags spinach, stalks removed

Why it works: Oyster mushroom and spinach share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Duck Breasts with Maple Syrup

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 duck breast, skin on
4 tbsp maple syrup
1.5 tbsp sherry vinegar
1.5 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp hazelnut oil
225 g wild mushrooms (girolles, trompettes, CEOs, oyster mushrooms)
25 g butter
2 x 250 bags spinach, stalks removed

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

675Calories

24 gProtein

54 gFat

20 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Duck	100g cooked with skin	337
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Oyster Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Hazelnut	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Oyster mushroom + spinachtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Mushroom + oyster mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together37 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Hazelnut + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together25 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Mushroom + spinachtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together778 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

Swap the hazelnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (maple syrup, sherry, vinegar, mushroom, oyster mushroom, butter, spinach):

Sesamefits better
Cashew nutfits better
Beansfits better
Hazelnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against maple syrup, sherry, vinegar, mushroom, oyster mushroom, butter, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.