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Ducks, a LA Macedoine

A boiled duck served with carrots, onions, cloves, parsley, and white broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ducks, a LA Macedoine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the ducks for boiling.

  2. Place the ducks in an oval stewpan with the carrot, onion, cloves, and parsley.

  3. Moisten the ducks with the white broth.

Braise

  1. Cover the stewpan with a piece of well-buttered paper.

  2. Put the lid on the stewpan.

  3. Set the stewpan on the stove to boil.

  4. Place live embers on the lid.

  5. Move the ducks to the side of the stove to braise gently for about an hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Drain the ducks on a napkin.

  2. Remove the string from the ducks.

  3. Serve the ducks with a variety of glazed vegetables.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 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

Ducks
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, moist braising.
White broth
Supplies liquid that keeps the ducks moist and flavours the braising juices.
Butter
Enriches the surface and helps the buttered paper keep the braise moist and rich.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.
Onion
Adds aroma and savoury depth to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Move the ducks to the side of the stove to braise gently. Gentle, low heat lets the connective tissue soften slowly. A hard boil toughens the meat and dries the surface, so the ducks should simmer quietly rather than bubble vigorously.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, parsley, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, parsley, butter. 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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