Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Salmi De Canard
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Singe, draw, and truss the duck.
Peel and slice the onion, and cut the bacon into dice.
Roast
Cook the bacon in a baking tin until crisp, then remove half and set aside.
Add the onion to the baking tin with the remaining bacon and fat.
Place the duck on top, add the herbs, and dot with butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes until half cooked.
Remove the duck, untruss, and cut into neat joints.
Make the sauce
Fry the flour in the remaining butter until brown, then dilute with the stock.
Boil the mixture, skim off fat, and add the gravy from the baking tin.
Stir the sauce until it boils again, adding a small glass of claret if desired.
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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Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 stays moist and tender when cooked gently in fat.
- Bacon
- Its fat bastes the duck and its crisp pieces add savoury flavour to the dish.
- Flour
- Browned in butter, it thickens the stock into a smooth sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the flour brown for a nutty, toasted flavour in the sauce.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, carrying the flavour of the pan drippings.
The step that matters
Frying the flour in butter until brown. Flour must cook long enough to lose its raw taste and gain colour; cooking it briefly before adding liquid prevents lumps and a pasty flavour, while over-browning makes the sauce bitter.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, flour, butter, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Eggplantfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, flour, butter, pepper. 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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