Why it works: Pepper and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,263 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Duck, with Olive Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
If not already done, pick, singe, and empty the duck, removing the head and neck but leaving the feet on.
Hold the feet in boiling water to make the skin peel off easily.
Rinse and dry the inside of the duck, and wipe the outside with a clean cloth.
Cut off the pinions at the first joint and twist the feet around on the back of the bird.
Break the backbone to make the bird firmer when served.
Prepare olive sauce by adding prepared olives to ordinary gravy or by mixing roux with stock.
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 + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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