Name: To Stew Duck with Green Peas
Ingredients: 1 duck, stuffed and half roasted; 1 onion, sliced; a little fresh mint; 2 cups beef gravy; 4 cups green peas; 1 teaspoon sugar

Why it works: Mint and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

To Stew Duck with Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Place the half-roasted duck in a stew pan.
Add the sliced onion, mint, and beef gravy.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the green peas and simmer for another 30 minutes.
Stir in the sugar before serving.

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.

Mint + peastop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,137 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peastop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,460 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peastop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,044 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + minttop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,389 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Duck: Provides the main protein and rich flavour that the gravy and peas surround.
Beef gravy: Supplies the liquid that cooks the duck and carries the savoury flavour of the stew.
Green peas: Add sweetness, colour and a tender, soft texture as they simmer in the gravy.
Sugar: Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the savoury gravy and rich duck.