Name: Duck with Stuffing
Ingredients: 1 duck; Onions (enough to fill the duck's cavity); Sage leaves (to taste); Pepper (to taste); Coarse sea salt (to taste); Bread crumbs (optional); String (for tying)

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Duck with Stuffing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Truss the duck by cutting off the pinion-joint of the wing, feet, head, and neck.
Remove the gills and save the heart, liver, and gizzard for giblets or stock.

Stuff and tie

Chop the onions and sage leaves, then season with pepper and salt.
Stuff the duck with the onion and sage mixture, or mix in bread crumbs for a milder flavor.
Tie the duck with string to secure the legs and wings close to the body.

Cook

Let the duck warm through in a pan, basting occasionally.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Sage + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,778 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,676 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck: Supplies the meat and fat that the stuffing flavours and the pan juices baste.
Onions: Soften and sweeten as they cook inside the cavity, scenting the meat.
Sage leaves: Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the stuffing.
Bread crumbs: Soak up juices and give a milder, softer stuffing.