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Mock Duck

A beef dish shaped like duck, coated in breadcrumb mixture and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mock Duck

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Mix the bread crumbs, butter, parsley, celery, pepper, and salt together thoroughly.

  2. Moisten the mixture with hot water.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pound the beef on a biscuit board.

  2. Spread the dressing on the meat.

  3. Roll the meat up.

  4. Bake for 2 hours at 300°F (150°C), basting frequently.

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. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

Beef
Forms the main body of the dish, and rolling it around the stuffing holds the filling in place.
Soft bread crumbs
Absorb the butter and hot water to form a moist, spreadable stuffing that keeps the meat tender.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the stuffing and helps keep the meat moist during baking.
Celery
Adds a mild, fresh vegetable flavor and some texture to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Pound the beef on a biscuit board. Pounding breaks down the tough muscle fibers of round or flank, making the meat more tender and easier to roll without tearing around the stuffing.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, parsley, pepper, beef):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, parsley, pepper, beef. 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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