Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Duck
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Prepare a dressing similar to that used for roast goose.
Draw, wash thoroughly, wipe, and stuff the duck.
Truss the duck and dredge it with salt, pepper, butter, and flour.
Bake
Place the duck in a baking pan with a little water.
Baste the duck frequently while baking.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until tender.
Make the gravy
Make gravy using the same method as for goose.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour 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
- Provides the meat and fat that renders and flavors the dish as it roasts.
- Butter
- Adds fat that promotes browning and a rich flavor on the skin.
- Flour
- Helps the dredged surface brown and later thickens the pan juices into gravy.
The step that matters
Baste the duck frequently while baking. Spooning pan liquid over the bird keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly, so the skin does not dry out or scorch before the meat is tender.
“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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