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Roast Ducks and Ducklings Stuffed

A roast duck and ducklings stuffed with a breadcrumb and herb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Ducks and Ducklings Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stuffing

  1. Combine the bread-crumbs, shallots, parsley, thyme, sage, clove, pepper, sugar, lemon peel, nutmeg, and water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil and stir for 20 minutes until the water is absorbed.

  3. Add the butter and stir until well mixed.

  4. Let the mixture cool, then stuff the ducks with it.

Roast the ducks

  1. Roast the ducks over a hot fire, basting constantly until done.

  2. Cook ducklings for 35 minutes and ducks for 50 minutes.

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

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

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bread-crumbs
Absorb the liquid and form a soft, bulky stuffing that holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the stuffing stay soft and well flavoured.
Shallots
Add a mild savoury sweetness and aroma as they soften during boiling.
Lemon peel
Adds bright citrus aroma to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Boil and stir for 20 minutes until the water is absorbed. Cooking the crumbs and shallots until the water is fully absorbed drives off excess moisture. If the stuffing stays wet, it can make the cavity soggy and cool slowly, so it is best cooled before stuffing.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, shallot, parsley, thyme, sage, clove, sugar):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, shallot, parsley, thyme, sage, clove, sugar. 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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