Why it works: Mallard duck and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 363 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-heptenal, which smells green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the ducks
Pluck and singe the ducks, then split them down the back.
Remove the back and breastbones.
Lay the ducks skin-side down in a pan.
Marinate and broil
Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil, then marinate for 15 minutes.
Broil the ducks until rare.
Serve
Serve with maitre d'hotel butter and garnish with watercress.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Mallard duck + olivetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
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Pepper + olivetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
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Pepper + watercresstop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together983 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Olive + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,128 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Olive + watercresstop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together638 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mallard ducks
- Provide the meat that is cooked by broiling, giving the dish its main flavour and texture.
- Olive oil
- Carries seasoning over the skin and helps promote even browning under the broiler.
- Maitre d'hotel butter
- Adds fat and richness, melting over the hot meat to add moisture and savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Broil the ducks until rare. Duck breast is best served rare because overcooking toughens the meat and dries it out. Watching closely under the broiler keeps the inside tender and juicy while the skin browns.
“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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