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Mock Wild Duck

A flank steak rolled and stuffed with kidneys, onions, and seasonings, then browned and braised in gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mock Wild Duck

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the roll

  1. Trim the kidneys of all fat, cords, and veins, then cut into small pieces.

  2. Spread the kidney pieces evenly over one side of the flank steak along with the cracker crumbs, onion, and seasonings.

  3. Roll the steak tightly and tie it with kitchen twine.

Brown and make the gravy

  1. Brown the roll in the butter or drippings in a skillet.

  2. Remove the roll from the skillet.

  3. Make a gravy by heating the flour in the remaining fat, then adding the water or stock and sugar.

Cook and finish

  1. Place the roll into the gravy.

  2. Cook slowly in a covered baking dish, steamer, or fireless cooker until tender.

  3. If using a steamer or fireless cooker, brown the roll in the oven before serving.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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

Flank steak
Wraps the filling and cooks into a tender, sliceable roll.
Lamb kidneys
Provide the rich, savory filling at the center of the roll.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb juices and help bind the kidney filling together.
Flour
Thickens the drippings into a smooth gravy.
Butter or drippings
Adds fat for browning the roll and enriching the gravy.

The step that matters

Cook slowly in a covered dish. Gentle, moist heat softens the connective tissue in the steak and kidney so the roll becomes tender rather than tough. Rapid or dry heat would toughen the meat and dry the gravy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, thyme, sage, lamb, flour, butter, sugar. 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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