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Stewed Duck

A duck stew with gravy, salt, cayenne, rice, and port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Stewed Duck

Why it works: Pepper and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,379 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Stewed Duck

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the duck joints in a stewpan with the gravy.

  2. Bring to a boil and remove any scum that rises.

  3. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  4. Let it stew gently for 45 minutes.

  5. Mix the ground rice with the port wine until smooth.

  6. Stir the rice mixture into the gravy.

  7. Allow to cook for an additional 7-8 minutes.

  8. 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Pepper + port winetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,804 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Rice + port winetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together70 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck
Provides the main protein and rich fat that flavours the stewed gravy.
Fine ground rice
Thickens the gravy as its starch swells when heated with liquid.
Good gravy
Forms the cooking liquid that carries flavour and moisture through the stew.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth, and helps the ground rice blend smoothly.

The step that matters

Stirring the rice mixture into the gravy. Ground rice must be fully smoothed in port first so it does not clump. Added to hot gravy, lumps form and stay, and the starch only thickens evenly when it is dispersed before heating.

“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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