Name: A Duck with Green Peas
Ingredients: 1 duck; ½ cup fresh butter; 2 cups good gravy; 2 cups peas; 2 small lettuces, chopped; 1 bundle of sweet herbs; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); a pinch of nutmeg; a pinch of mace; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 egg yolk; 2-3 tablespoons cream

Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

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.

Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lettuce + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together184 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck: Provides the main meat and rendered fat that flavours the pan and sauce.
Fresh butter: Adds richness and, with flour, forms a roux-style base for thickening the sauce.
Flour: Coats the duck and, mixed with butter, thickens the sauce through starch.
Gravy: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying savour to the peas and lettuce.
Peas: Add sweetness, body and colour to the stew.
Egg yolk: Enriches and thickens the sauce as it sets gently with the cream.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce with butter rolled in flour or mix the egg yolk with cream. Egg yolk thickens by proteins setting with gentle heat, so it can curdle if the sauce boils. Butter rolled in flour thickens through starch swelling. Both need the sauce kept below a hard boil and stirred in well.

Swap the mace

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

Tarragonfits better
Parsleyfits better
Capersfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, peas, lettuce, pepper, nutmeg, flour, egg. 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.

A Duck with Green Peas