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Wild Duck

Roasted wild duck with a bread and celery dressing, butter, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Wild Duck

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the ducks by filling them with a dressing made from dry bread, hot water, and a large amount of celery.

  2. Place the ducks in a pan with a little water and butter.

Roast and test

  1. Roast in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C), basting frequently.

  2. Check for doneness by inserting a fork into the breast and legs; they are done when the blood stops running. Remove the fork to test.

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

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

  2. Bread + celerytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,110 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Celery + buttertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Wild ducks
Provide the main meat, which is cooked whole and tested for doneness at the thickest parts.
Dry bread
Forms the base of the dressing that fills the ducks, giving body and absorbing juices.
Butter
Adds fat to the pan, promoting browning and a richer flavour on the roasting birds.

The step that matters

Checking doneness with a fork. Wild duck is often served pink, and the blood-running test is only a rough guide. Judge the breast and leg juices together, since overcooking dries the lean meat quickly.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, 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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