Why it works: Apple and potato work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 603 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Roast Goose
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and roast
Pick, draw, singe, truss, and stuff the goose.
Roast it before a clear fire.
Serve
Serve with apple or tomato sauce in a boat.
Accompany with potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
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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Apple + potatotop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together603 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Potato + brussels sproutstop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Apple + brussels sproutstop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Goose
- Provides the main meat, and its fat renders out during roasting to baste the bird.
- Apple or tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and fruity sweetness that cut through the rich, fatty goose meat.
- Potatoes
- Absorb rendered goose fat and brown well, adding starch and a hearty texture to the plate.
The step that matters
Roast it before a clear fire. Steady, moderate heat lets the fat under the skin render out slowly. If the heat is too high, the skin browns and sets before the fat has melted away, leaving the meat greasy and the skin less crisp.
Swap the brussels sprouts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, potato):
- Parsnipfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Brussels sproutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, potato. 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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