Name: Seared Duck Breast Salad
Ingredients: 2 boneless duck breast halves, each 4 to 6 oz.; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 3 Tbs. sherry vinegar; 7 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; 1 head radicchio, washed and torn into 1-inch; strips; 2 heads frisée, washed and trimmed of thick; green parts; 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped; 2 oranges, peeled and cut into segments

Why it works: Olive and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,087 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

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.

Olive + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,087 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Olive + orangetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,456 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,402 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, sherry, vinegar, olive, orange):

Beansabout as good a flavor fit
Almondabout as good a flavor fit
Sesameabout as good a flavor fit
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sherry, vinegar, olive, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Seared Duck Breast Salad