Why it works: Sage and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,628 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Roast Duck
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and roast
Stuff the duck with sage and onion forcemeat and truss it nicely.
Roast the duck for 1 to 1½ hours, depending on its size.
Finish and serve
Thicken the gravy and add a glass of port wine if desired.
Serve with the same accompaniments as for roast goose.
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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Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,628 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + port winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,148 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sage + port winetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together109 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Duck
- Provides the main meat, whose fat renders during roasting to keep the flesh moist and crisp the skin.
- Sage and onion forcemeat
- Adds savoury, aromatic flavour and moisture to the cavity while the bird roasts.
- Port wine
- Adds sweetness and depth to the gravy when used.
The step that matters
Roasting time for the duck. Duck size varies, so the bird can easily be under- or overcooked. Duck is safe and juicy at the correct internal temperature, and checking it near the end of the time range helps avoid dry meat.
Swap the sage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, port wine):
- Garlicfits better
- Thymefits better
- Clovefits better
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, port wine. 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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