Name: Roasted Ducks
Ingredients: 1 duck; 2 teaspoons sage; 2 teaspoons onions, chopped; ⅓ cup breadcrumbs; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roasted Ducks

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stuff one duck with sage, onions, breadcrumbs, butter, pepper, and salt.
Leave the other duck unseasoned.

Roast and serve

Roast both ducks until cooked through and golden brown.
Serve with fine gravy.

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.

Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,388 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,628 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,312 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck: Forms the main body of the dish, browning and cooking through in the oven.
Breadcrumbs: Soak up stuffing juices and give the filling body and structure.
Butter: Adds fat that carries flavor and helps the skin brown.
Onions: Soften during roasting, adding sweetness and moisture to the stuffing.
Sage: Contributes an aromatic, herbal flavor to the stuffing.