Why it works: Pepper and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,898 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Duck, Salmi of
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the duck
Stew the giblets of the duck gently in veal gravy seasoned with cayenne, shallots, pepper, and salt.
Roast the duck and cut it into pieces.
Make and serve the stew
Place the duck in a stewpan with the gravy and simmer until hot.
Squeeze the juice of a bitter orange into the sauce and strain it over the duck.
Serve hot.
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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Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + shallottop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together920 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + bitter orangetop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Shallot + bitter orangetop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Duck
- Provides the main meat, which is roasted, cut up, and then gently simmered in the gravy.
- Veal gravy
- Forms the savoury liquid base that the giblets and duck are cooked in.
- Bitter orange
- Adds acidity and fresh aroma to the sauce, cutting the richness of the gravy.
- Shallots
- Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the giblet stew.
The step that matters
Simmering the duck in the gravy. Simmering only until hot keeps the duck tender; boiling vigorously can toughen meat and make the sauce cloudy. Adding the bitter orange juice after heating, then straining, keeps its sharp flavour bright.
Swap the bitter orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper, shallot):
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Cherryfits better
- Bitter orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pepper, shallot. 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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