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Galantine Stuffins for Ducks, Etc.

A duck stuffed with a forcemeat of bread crumbs, onion, eggs, and butter, then boiled and finished with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Galantine Stuffins for Ducks, Etc.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the duck

  1. Bone the ducks, keeping the meat in one piece.

  2. Wash the ducks in cold water and dry with a cloth.

  3. Lay the ducks skin side down and cover thin parts with scraps of meat.

  4. Dredge with pepper and salt.

  5. Spread the forcemeat evenly over them.

  6. Fold the sides together.

Wrap and boil

  1. Sew them up with coarse thread or twine.

  2. Wrap in clean muslin cloths.

  3. Tie the ends.

  4. Boil for 2 to 3 hours.

  5. Place in a pan to shape and weigh down until cold.

Finish

  1. Remove wrappings.

  2. Wipe with a cloth dipped in hot water.

  3. Trim edges.

  4. Brush with melted butter for a smooth appearance.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Bread + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Ducks
Provide the meat that forms the main body of the galantine.
White bread crumbs
Bind the forcemeat and help it hold together when sliced.
Raw eggs
Bind the forcemeat so it sets firm when cooked.
Hard boiled eggs
Add body and a firm texture to the forcemeat filling.
Melted butter
Adds richness and gives the finished surface a smooth, glossy look.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 to 3 hours. The galantine must cook gently and evenly while wrapped so the forcemeat sets firm and cooks through. Too hard a boil can break up the meat and loosen the wrapping, so keep the water at a steady simmer.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, butter):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, butter. 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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