Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Duck, Salmi of
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the duck
Singe, draw, and truss the duck.
Slice the onion and place it in a baking dish.
Place the duck on top of the onion, baste with hot fat, and roast at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes, basting frequently.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and cook until a brown roux forms.
Add the stock, stir until boiling, and simmer until needed.
Once the duck is roasted, remove the trussing strings and cut the bird into small joints.
Add the duck joints and olives to the sauce, season well, and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Return the baking dish to the oven until the onion is tender, then rub it through a fine sieve and add to the sauce.
Drain off any excess fat and add the sediment from the baking dish to the sauce.
Serve
Serve the salmi in the center of a hot dish on a base of fried bread, pour over the sauce and olives, and serve hot.
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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Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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, which is roasted first and then simmered in the sauce.
- Butter
- Fat that is cooked with flour to form the roux, adding richness and flavor to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter into a roux.
- Stock
- Liquid base of the sauce, which the roux thickens into a smooth gravy.
- Spanish onion
- Softens under roasting and is sieved into the sauce, adding body and sweetness.
- Olives
- Add a salty, briny note to the sauce alongside the duck.
The step that matters
Cooking the roux to a brown colour. Browning the flour and butter gives the sauce its colour and nutty flavour, but if it is removed too early it stays pale and tastes raw, while over-browning makes it bitter.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, butter, flour, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Eggplantfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, butter, flour, pepper. 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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