Name: Ducks En Salmis a l’eSTRAGON
Ingredients: duck; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon cream; 1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar; tarragon, chopped; chervil, chopped

Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ducks En Salmis a l’eSTRAGON

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Prepare the duck in a salmis as directed in the previous recipe.

Finish and serve

Before serving, add chopped tarragon and chervil.
Mix in tarragon vinegar and a liaison of egg yolk and cream.
Pour the sauce over the duck and serve.

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.

Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together824 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + cherviltop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together561 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + cherviltop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together288 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Cream + tarragontop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together574 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Duck: Main protein that the salmis sauce coats and flavors.
Egg yolk: Thickens the sauce as its proteins gently set when warmed.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, velvety body to the sauce.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds sharp acidity and a bright tarragon aroma to the sauce.
Tarragon: Contributes fresh, aniseed-like aroma to the finished sauce.
Chervil: Adds a delicate, fresh herbal aroma at the end.

The step that matters

Adding the liaison of egg yolk and cream. Egg proteins thicken the sauce only when warmed gently. If the sauce boils after the yolk goes in, the egg scrambles and the sauce turns grainy and curdled.

“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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Ducks En Salmis a l’eSTRAGON