Name: Roast Ducklings
Ingredients: 2 ducklings; sage; onion; salt; pepper; onions (for gravy)

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 ↓

Roast Ducklings

Ingredients

Directions

Stuff the ducklings with sage and onion stuffing.
Place the ducklings down to a brisk clear fire.
Baste the ducklings well until fully cooked.
Prepare gravy by stewing the necks, gizzards, and livers with onions.
Serve the ducklings with gravy poured around them, not over.
Accompany with green peas, stewed endive, young turnips tossed in butter, and salad.

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).
Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).