Name: Bonne Bouche for Goose, Duck, or Roast Pork
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon made mustard; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; a few grains cayenne pepper; ½ cup claret or port wine; ¼ pint thick melted butter or thickened gravy

Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bonne Bouche for Goose, Duck, or Roast Pork

Ingredients

1 teaspoon made mustard
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
a few grains cayenne pepper
½ cup claret or port wine
¼ pint thick melted butter or thickened gravy

Directions

Make the sauce

Mix the mustard, salt, and cayenne in a wineglass of claret or port wine.

Serve

Pour this mixture into the goose through a slit in the apron just before serving.
Alternatively, stir the mixture into ½ cup of thick melted butter or gravy and serve in a boat.

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.

Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,499 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Mustard + port winetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together314 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + port winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,804 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Made mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the richness of the meat.
Claret or port wine: Provides the liquid base and a fruity, acidic depth to the sauce.
Melted butter or thickened gravy: Gives the sauce body and richness when served in a boat.