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Boast Dock

A roasted duck stuffed with Basre and onion, served with brown gravy and optional green peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,460 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boast Dock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the ducks at the back and secure both ends with string to keep them in the seasoning.

  2. Do not dress the ducks on the same day they are killed.

  3. Hang them for a day or two if the weather permits.

  4. Prepare a stuffing of Basre and onion for one duck, leaving the other unseasoned.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook the ducks over a brisk, clear fire, basting them well throughout the cooking time.

  2. A few minutes before serving, dredge the ducks lightly with flour to make them froth and look plump.

  3. When the steam draws towards the fire, serve the ducks hot with brown gravy poured around them, and some in a tureen.

  4. Serve with green peas when in season.

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. Onion + peastop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  2. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + peastop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,837 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ducks
The main protein; cooking over a brisk fire cooks the meat while basting keeps it moist.
Flour
Dredged on the surface, it helps the skin froth and brown for a plump appearance.
Stuffing of basre and onion
Seasons the bird from within, adding aroma and flavour to the meat.

The step that matters

Basting the ducks throughout cooking. Duck is lean and can dry out over a fierce fire; regular basting with its own juices keeps the meat moist while the skin crisps.

Swap the peas

The recipe marks peas as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, flour):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Cashew nutfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, flour. 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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