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Irish Stewed Duck

A hearty stew of duck pieces braised with onion, ham, flour, beef broth, port wine, parsley, and sweet herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Irish Stewed Duck

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the duck

  1. Singe, draw, and cut the ducks into 8 pieces each.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then fry in butter until light brown on both sides.

Brown and stew

  1. Add the sliced onion and diced ham, browning them slightly.

  2. Dredge with flour and fry again until the flour is brown.

  3. Add beef broth, port wine, parsley, and sweet herbs.

  4. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the herbs, skim off the fat, and serve in a potato border.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ducks
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender as it stews in the liquid.
Butter
Browns the duck pieces, adding color and a rich, savory flavor to the surface.
Flour
Dusted on the browned pieces, it thickens the braising liquid into a light sauce.
Beef broth
Forms the stewing liquid that gently cooks the duck and carries the flavor.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the sauce as it reduces during cooking.
Raw ham
Adds salty, savory flavor to the stew as it browns with the onion.

The step that matters

Dredge with flour and fry again until the flour is brown. Browning the flour toasts it and builds color and nutty flavor. Stopping too early leaves a raw, pasty taste, while over-browning can turn it bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, ham, flour, beef, port wine, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, ham, flour, beef, port wine, parsley. 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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