Why it works: Bread and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,445 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Duck, Wild, Hashed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the remains of the duck into neat joints.
Cook
Put the duck joints into a stewpan with all the ingredients.
Heat gradually by the side of the fire, stirring occasionally.
When on the point of boiling, serve and garnish with toasted bread slices.
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.
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Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,445 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Remains of cold roast wild duck
- Provides the main meat, which is already cooked and only needs warming through.
- Brown gravy
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour that binds the hash together.
- Bread crumbs
- Help thicken the sauce and give it body.
- Claret
- Adds acidity and wine flavour that cuts the richness of the duck.
- Lemon juice or seville orange juice
- Adds acidity and brightness that balances the rich gravy and meat.
The step that matters
Heat gradually by the side of the fire. The duck is already cooked, so gentle heat warms it without toughening the meat. Boiling or rapid heating can make the meat dry and firm, and can cause the thickened sauce to catch or separate.
“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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