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Duck, Braised, with Chestnuts

A braised duck stuffed with chestnuts and onions, cooked in stock and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Duck, Braised, with Chestnuts

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Boil the chestnuts, then remove the skins from the boiled chestnuts.

  2. Cook the Spanish onion in stock or water until tender, then chop the cooked onion finely.

  3. Mix the chopped onion, chestnuts, salt, pepper, and egg for stuffing.

Braise the duck

  1. Truss the duck.

  2. Lard the duck neatly.

  3. Heat the butter or fat in a large stewpan.

  4. Add sliced vegetables to the heated butter.

  5. Place the duck on top of the vegetables.

  6. Cover the duck.

  7. Fry gently for about 20 minutes.

  8. Add enough stock to cover the vegetables three-quarters.

  9. Add more stock as it boils away.

  10. Cover the duck with greased paper, then put the lid on.

  11. Cook gently for about 2 hours until tender.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Heat the Espagnole sauce.

  2. Add wine and jelly if using.

  3. Season to taste.

  4. Remove the trussing strings.

  5. Place the duck in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes to crisp the bacon.

  6. Serve the duck with some sauce poured over.

  7. Pour the remainder of the sauce into a sauce-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.

  1. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Chestnut + carrottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together186 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Port wine + curranttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together356 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Onion + chestnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together696 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Port wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck
Is the main cooked meat, becoming tender through slow, moist braising.
Chestnuts
Add starchy body and a mild, nutty flavour to the stuffing.
Egg
Binds the chopped onion and chestnuts together so the stuffing holds its shape.
Butter or good fat
Starts the browning of the vegetables and adds richness to the braising base.
Espagnole sauce
Gives the finished sauce a deep, savoury body and concentrated flavour.
Red-currant jelly
Adds sweetness and a gentle fruity tang that balances the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Cook gently for about 2 hours until tender. Gentle, covered simmering keeps the duck moist while collagen slowly breaks down; a hard boil toughens the meat and dries the liquid too fast.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, port wine, onion, chestnut, butter, egg, carrot):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, port wine, onion, chestnut, butter, egg, carrot. 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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