Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Duck Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Bone the duck and fowl, then wash them.
Season the duck and fowl with pepper, salt, mace, and allspice.
Assemble and bake
Place the fowl inside the duck, along with the pickled calf's tongue.
Press the duck and fowl together tightly, drawing the skin of the legs inward for a smooth appearance.
Bake in a covered dish to retain steam.
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.
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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
- Forms the main body of the pie and provides rich, savoury meat and fat.
- Fowl
- Fills the cavity inside the duck, adding more meat and flavour to the filling.
- Pickled calf's tongue
- Adds a tender, savoury meat and a tangy, salty flavour to the filling.
The step that matters
Press the duck and fowl together tightly. Firm pressing keeps the boned birds compact so they hold their shape and cook evenly. Loose packing can leave gaps and uneven texture in the finished pie.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, allspice):
- Clovefits better
- Thymefits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, allspice. 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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