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Duck Salmi

Duck Salmi is a roasted duck served with a brown roux sauce, olives, and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Duck Salmi

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 and roast the duck

  1. Singe the duck.

  2. Draw the duck.

  3. Truss the duck.

  4. Slice the onion.

  5. Place the sliced onion in a baking tin.

  6. Put the duck on top of the onion.

  7. Baste the duck with hot fat.

  8. Roast the duck in a 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, basting frequently.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter.

  2. Stir in the flour.

  3. Cook until a brown roux forms.

  4. Add the stock.

  5. Stir until boiling.

  6. Simmer until needed.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the trussing strings.

  2. Cut the bird into small joints.

  3. Add the joints and olives to the sauce.

  4. Season well.

  5. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

  6. Return the baking tin to the oven until the onion slices are tender.

  7. Rub the onion through a fine sieve.

  8. Add the onion to the sauce.

  9. Drain off any fat.

  10. Add the sediment from the baking tin to the sauce.

  11. Dish the salmi in the center of a hot dish on a croûte of fried bread.

  12. Pour the sauce and olives over the salmi.

  13. Serve hot.

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. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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 is roasted and then cut into joints for the salmi.
Butter
Forms the fat base of the roux and adds richness to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with the butter to form a roux.
Stock
Forms the liquid body of the sauce, which simmers with the duck and olives.
Spanish onion
Roasted under the duck, then pressed through a sieve to add body and mellow sweetness to the sauce.
French olives
Add a briny, sharp flavour that contrasts with the rich duck and sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the roux until brown. The butter and flour must cook long enough to lose their raw floury taste and gain colour and nutty flavour, but not so long that they burn. Well-cooked roux thickens the sauce smoothly and gives it depth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, butter, flour, 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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