Name: Duck, Hashed
Ingredients: remains of a duck; ½ cup macaroni; ½ cup cheese; ½ cup tomato pulp; ½ cup gravy; 1 teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese; coarse sea salt to taste; black pepper to taste

Why it works: Cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Duck, Hashed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the duck and sauce

Cut the duck into neat pieces.
Mix enough gravy and tomato pulp to cover the duck pieces.
Heat the sauce.
Add the duck pieces.
Stir in Parmesan cheese.
Season to taste before serving.

Assemble the dish

Boil the macaroni.
Arrange the macaroni around the dish.
Pour a little cheese sauce over the macaroni.
Place the duck in the center.

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.

Cheese + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,041 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,490 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,896 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,322 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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, and its pieces are the centrepiece of the dish.
Macaroni: Forms the starchy base arranged around the duck.
Cheese: Adds richness and a creamy, savoury coating to the macaroni.
Tomato pulp: Adds acidity and body to the sauce that coats the duck.
Gravy: Adds savoury depth and moisture to the sauce around the duck.