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Wild Ducks

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Wild Ducks

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Roast the wild ducks over a brisk fire for 12 to 20 minutes, basting frequently.

  2. Score the breast of the duck and place a piece of butter on it.

  3. Cut a lemon in half; sprinkle one half with salt and the other with cayenne pepper, then squeeze over the duck.

  4. For a richer flavor, substitute shickaree-sauce for the lemon.

  5. In a pot, combine shredded thyme, winter savory, sage, broth, pepper, salt, and wine; simmer for 30 minutes.

  6. Add the gravy from the ducks to the broth, avoiding the fat.

  7. Place a deep dish under the ducks and pour the sauce over them.

  8. Remove the ducks, cut them up, and return them to the sauce to stew until fully cooked.

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. Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Winter savory + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together221 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together887 recipes

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

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

Swap the winter savory

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, lemon, pepper, thyme, sage, wine):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Winter savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, lemon, pepper, thyme, sage, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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