Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fillets of Duckling’s Served with Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Roast the ducklings
Roast the ducklings in front of a clear fire for 20 minutes, basting frequently.
Once the ducklings are cooked, cut off the fillets, trim them, and arrange them alternately with the croutons around the potato border.
Prepare the accompaniments
Boil the green peas until tender, then strain off the water.
Mash the boiled potatoes, place them in a border mold, and poach in a bain-marie for a few minutes before turning out onto a hot dish.
Cut thin croutons of bread equal to the number of fillets and fry them in butter until browned.
Make the sauce and serve
Strain the gravy from the ducklings into a saucepan with the peas, add 2 oz of butter, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and a little salt, and stir over heat for a few minutes.
Beat the egg yolk with ½ teacup of cream or milk, then mix it into the sauce, stirring gently until thick without boiling.
Heap the peas in the center of the dish and serve.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,016 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ducklings
- Provide the tender meat and rendered fat that flavour the fillets and gravy.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the cream sauce as it gently sets when heated without boiling.
- Cream or milk
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the sauce and balancing the gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the sauce and browns the croutons.
- Green peas
- Provide the main vegetable body and sweetness of the dish.
The step that matters
Thickening the sauce with egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat, so the sauce must be stirred over low heat and not boiled. Boiling can curdle the yolk and leave the sauce grainy.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, sauce, sugar, egg, cream):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peanutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, sauce, sugar, egg, cream. 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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