Tastes Like Science
5th Edition - Duck, the Science of Garlic, and Half Sheets!
Happy Friday everybody!
If you're new, welcome to the newsletter, happy to have you here! My goal here is to build an engaged community of people who are interested in improving their cooking in one way or another. If you happen to try the weekly challenge for yourself, reply back with a picture and I'd love to feature you!
This week’s challenge was to cook duck! I love duck but I've only ever had it in restaurants. Little did I know that when I went to Whole Foods looking for duck breast, all I'd find was a whole duck. So what a great opportunity to brush up on my butchery.
I've never broken down a whole duck before, but I have done a chicken and it's more or less the same. Regardless, I was still very rusty but found this tutorial by Sad Papi that made it super easy. I'll only be using the breast for this, but if you have any fun ideas for the rest of the duck, let me know!
The cook process was honestly very straight forward. I did the break down early in the morning of, and left the duck breasts drying on a wire rack while I was at work. When I got home, I just scored the skin which helps render all the fat. Fun fact: Because ducks are usually found in colder climates, they have a much thicker layer of insulating fat than other birds!
Then we start skin side down in a cold pan and slowly increase the heat. Duck fat renders (melts) at just above room temperature, and we want to render as much fat as possible to get the skin crispy, so start low and slow then increase to cook. I like to baste the meat side of the duck with the rendered duck fat in the pan, and then only flip when it's almost done. Duck is usually best around medium rare to medium, so if you pull it at 135F/57C, it should carryover a few more degrees. This came out perfectly! I paired it with a blueberry sauce and basil oil from last week.
NEXT WEEK:
If there's one thing judges on cooking competitions hammer contestants on week after week: sauce, sauce, sauce. There's a classic French technique for making sauces called Monter au Beurre, which just means mounted in butter. Sounds intimidating, but all you have to do is take whatever sauce you're making and whisk in cold butter to make it thick and glossy just like the restaurants. Could be a super easy way to take a home dish to the next level.
How you cut garlic controls how intense it tastes — thanks to science!
The Science:
Inside a whole garlic clove, two key compounds — alliin and the enzyme alliinase — are stored in separate compartments within the garlic’s cells.
When you chop, crush, or grate the garlic, you rupture those cells, letting alliin and alliinase mix. This starts a rapid chemical reaction that produces allicin, the compound responsible for garlic’s sharp, spicy aroma.
Actionable Tips:
The more finely you break the garlic down, the more allicin forms and the stronger the flavor.
Whole cloves: No reaction → very mild, sweet when roasted
Sliced: Minimal reaction → subtle, mellow garlic flavor
Chopped: More reaction → balanced garlic flavor
Crushed or grated: Maximum reaction → intense, spicy
Paste: Even more surface area → strongest flavor
Bonus Tip: After crushing or grating, wait 10 minutes before cooking. That gives the alliinase time to fully convert alliin into allicin, cooking will prevent any further reaction from happening.
Pickled carrots are so underrated. I made them this week for my ratios video and they are such a slept on condiment. Not only do they provide great acidity like any other pickle, but the texture and crunch they bring adds a nice dimension to any dish. Not only do they taste great, but pickling them before they went bad saved them from getting tossed!
I love half sheets man. Honestly just sheet pans in general. Especially with a wire rack. I honestly used my half sheets more for cooking applications like roasting, seasoning, dry brining, cooling, etc. more than I use them for baking. I love these aluminum ones from Nordic Ware and plan on buying more.
If you like cooking competition shows and haven't checked out Next Level Chef, I'd recommend it! It definitely puts a fun and different twist on a cooking competition that I haven't seen before and I always learn a ton from watching different cooking styles and techniques.
Thanks for reading— Hope to hear from you and see you next week!
*If you’d like to read more of the Tastes Like Science Newsletter, you can read previous editions on my SubStack.
Great content man! Definitely gonna try those carrots