Name: Fillets of Wild Duck with Seville
Ingredients: Wild duck fillets; Seville oranges; butter; salt; pepper

Why it works: Orange and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,402 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fillets of Wild Duck with Seville

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Season the wild duck fillets with salt and pepper.
In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
Sear the fillets until cooked through, about 5-7 minutes per side.
Juice the Seville oranges and add to the skillet.
Simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Serve the fillets drizzled with the orange sauce.

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.

Orange + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,402 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Orange + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,301 recipes

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