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Duck Stewed

A stew of duck with onions, sage, mint, peas, and optional cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Duck Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stewpan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the onions and fry until browned.

  3. Mix the flour with a little cold broth until smooth, then add to the stewpan with the butter and onions.

  4. Gradually stir in the beef gravy and add the duck.

  5. Add the chopped sage and mint, then let it simmer slowly for 20 minutes.

  6. If the duck is whole, turn it over and add the shelled peas.

  7. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  8. When the peas are cooked, stir in the cream if desired.

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. Mint + peastop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

  3. Sage + minttop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together138 recipes

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

  4. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 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

Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base as it melts and browns the onions.
Onions
Fry until browned to add sweetness and savoury depth to the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it becomes smooth and coats the duck and peas.
Beef gravy
Forms the savoury liquid base that the stew simmers in.
Shelled peas
Add sweetness and a tender texture to the finished stew.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, silkier body to the stew.

The step that matters

Thickening the flour with cold broth. Flour mixed into hot liquid clumps; mixing it smooth with cold broth first lets the starch disperse evenly so the gravy thickens without lumps.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, flour, beef, sage, peas, pepper. 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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