Why it works: Miso and lime work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 42 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Finely grate the ginger and the zest of the lime, then mix with the aji amarillo paste, white miso, sake and chopped marjoram. Coat the duck breasts in this marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Whisk the rice vinegar with the sea salt in a bowl until the salt dissolves. Add the thinly sliced daikon and cucumber, toss well, and set aside to pickle while the duck cooks.
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Scrape off most of the marinade and score the duck skin. Place the duck skin side down in a cold ovenproof pan over medium heat and cook for 8 minutes to render the fat.
Pour off the rendered fat, turn the duck over and transfer the pan to the oven. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes until the thickest part reaches 165°F (74°C).
Rest the duck on a board for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the hoba leaf in a dry pan for about 30 seconds per side until fragrant, then lay it on serving plates.
Slice the duck and arrange it over the hoba leaf. Drain the pickled daikon and cucumber and add them alongside. Squeeze lime juice over the duck and scatter micro coriander sprigs on top before serving.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Miso + limetop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lime + coriandertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,536 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + coriandertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,504 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Lime + gingertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,621 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + marjoramtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together59 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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