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Ken Hom's Crispy Aromatic Duck Recipe

This is probably one of the best selling dishes in Chinese restaurants, in the West. Most of the steps are quite straight forward and can be done up to a day ahead and the results are well worth the labour.

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Why it works: Ginger and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,733 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ken Hom's Crispy Aromatic Duck Recipe

4 people
Prep15 min
Cook2 hr 30 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1132Calories
38 gProtein
44 gFat
145 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 12 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Duck100g cooked with skin337
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Pancakenot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

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

By lovefood. 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.

  1. Ginger + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Ginger + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

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

  4. Flour + cumintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,286 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, flour, cumin, sauce):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Welsh onionfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, flour, cumin, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.