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Salmi of Duck

A clear broth made from duck remains, onion, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salmi of Duck

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place the duck remains in a saucepan and cover with cold water.

  2. Bring gently to a boil, skim off any foam, and add the chopped onion.

  3. Simmer for about an hour, then let the fat rise and skim it off.

  4. Return the saucepan to the heat, strain the liquid, and add salt.

  5. If the liquid is cloudy, boil briefly and add a little cold water to clarify.

  6. Add pepper, spices, and the herb bundle.

Thicken and hold

  1. Mix the baked flour with the butter, then add to the saucepan with the meat.

  2. Stir well until just about to boil, but do not let it boil.

  3. Cover tightly and keep hot without cooking, preferably in a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Duck remains
Provides the bones and meat that release flavour and gelatin into the stock as it simmers.
Flour
Baked flour thickens the liquid to give the gravy body when stirred in.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the baked flour blend smoothly into the liquid.
Onion
Adds sweet, savoury aromatic depth to the stock during simmering.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and butter in without boiling. Once the liquid reaches a boil, a thickened stock can scorch on the base and lose its smooth texture. Stopping just short of boiling lets the starch thicken gently and keeps the flavour clean.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, butter. 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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