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Iioast Duck with Watercresses

Roast duck served with watercress and a gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Iioast Duck with Watercresses

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the duck

  1. Pluck, singe, and draw the duck as directed in the Chicken Curry recipe.

  2. Twist the tips of the wings back under the shoulders and stuff the bird with forcemeat.

  3. Bend the legs up toward the breast and secure the thigh bones with a trussing cord or skewer.

  4. Pound the breast bone down with a towel over it to prevent bruising.

  5. Lay a thin slice of salt pork over the breast.

Roast and make the gravy

  1. Place the duck in a hot oven (400 °F/200 °C) and baste frequently, turning it in the pan to brown all sides.

  2. When half done, season with salt and powdered herbs.

  3. Cook for about 15 minutes per pound, then keep it hot while making gravy by adding water to the drippings in the pan.

  4. Remove excess fat and thicken the gravy with flour mixed with cold water if desired.

  5. Strain and serve in a sauceboat.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Watercress + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together340 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 browns and cooks through in the hot oven.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dish.
Eggs
Bind the bread and herb forcemeat stuffing together.
Cheese
Adds savory flavor and richness to the dish.
Flour
Thickens the gravy made from the pan drippings.

The step that matters

Cook for about 15 minutes per pound. Duck has a thick layer of fat under the skin and needs enough time for the fat to render and the meat to cook through. Basting and turning help the skin brown evenly, and keeping the bird hot while the gravy is made preserves its texture.

“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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