Why it works: Coriander and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,866 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Green Duck Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the duck into pieces as you would a chicken.
In a pot, add the duck pieces and enough water to cover them.
Add the coriander and cumin seeds.
Simmer for 1.5 hours until the duck is tender.
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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Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,866 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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, which becomes tender through long, moist simmering.
- Coriander seeds
- Adds a warm, citrusy aroma to the cooking liquid and curry.
- Cumin seeds
- Adds an earthy, warm aroma that deepens the curry's flavor.
The step that matters
Simmer until the duck is tender. Young duck is tender, but the connective tissue still needs gentle, sustained moist heat to soften. Cooking too hard can toughen the meat, while cooking too briefly leaves it chewy, so check for tenderness rather than relying only on the clock.
“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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