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Mock Duck

A stuffed beef steak filled with bread, pork, sage, onion, and marjoram, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mock Duck

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Fill the beef steak with a dressing made of chopped bread, pork, sage, onions, marjoram, and salt.

  3. Sew the steak closed.

Braise and finish

  1. Place the steak in a pan.

  2. Add 1 pint of water.

  3. Cover tightly.

  4. Cook slowly in the oven for 3 hours.

  5. Remove the lid.

  6. Brown the steak quickly.

  7. Serve hot.

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. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + marjoramtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,056 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

Beef rump steak
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during slow, covered cooking.
Chopped bread
Soaks up juices and adds bulk to the stuffing, keeping it moist.
Chopped pork
Adds fat and richness to the stuffing, keeping it juicy as it cooks.
Dried sage
Contributes a savoury, earthy aroma that suits the rich meat.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma to the stuffing as it cooks in the steak.

The step that matters

Remove the lid and brown the steak quickly. After hours of covered, moist cooking the surface is pale and soft. A short, hot finish under dry heat browns the exterior through the Maillard reaction, adding colour and roasted flavour. Browning too long can dry the outer layer, so it should be quick.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, pork, sage, marjoram):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, pork, sage, marjoram. 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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