the library

Duck

Meat, fish & cheese· meat

What it is

Duck is the meat of domesticated waterfowl, most commonly the Pekin duck, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus.

What it tastes like

On the nose: fatty, fruity, orange-rose. Among its measured molecules: 2,4-decadienal, pentanal, 2-Nonenal, 2-amylfuran, 2-Octenal.

Every one of its 11 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• benzaldehydearomaaldehydereads as burning aromatic taste (PubChem)Measured in 57 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.79% (SG) vs 1.5% (FG); descriptor 'Almond' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Benzaldehyde')
• octanalaromaaldehydereads as fruity (PubChem)Measured in 40 of 341 ingredients.cite

  7.03% (SG, significantly higher, P<0.05) vs 4.39% (FG); descriptor 'Fruity, sour' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Octanal')
• hexanalaromaaldehydereads as sharp, aldehyde (PubChem)Measured in 87 of 341 ingredients.cite

  39.29% (SG, Liancheng White) and 40.57% (FG, Cherry Valley) of total volatile contribution -- the single largest compound in raw duck breast in both breeds, no significant breed difference; the paper's own descriptor column reads 'Green, grass' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5 (contribution rates of volatile compounds, %), row 'Hexanal')
• pentanalaromaaldehydereads as it has sharp, penetrating flavor (PubChem)Measured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.59% (SG) vs 1.46% (FG); descriptor 'Pungent' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Pentanal')
• heptanalaromaaldehydereads as fatty taste (PubChem)Measured in 34 of 341 ingredients.cite

  3.64% (SG) vs 3.11% (FG); descriptor 'Cheesy, fatty' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Heptanal')
• 1-octen-3-olaromaalcoholMeasured in 38 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.45% (SG) vs 5.77% (FG, significantly higher, P<0.05, roughly 13-fold) -- the compound the paper's own abstract names directly: 'FG meat had a mushroom note resulting from higher octenol'. Identified as 1-octen-3-ol on the strength of that mushroom descriptor, the textbook character of this compound — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, first row labelled 'Octenol', descriptor 'Mushroom')
• 2-amylfuranaromafuranMeasured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  4.21% (SG) vs 4.18% (FG), essentially breed-independent; descriptor 'Metallic, green, earthy, beany' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Furan, 2-pentyl-')
• nonanalaromaaldehydereads as orange-rose (PubChem)Measured in 62 of 341 ingredients.cite

  12.65% (SG, significantly higher, P<0.05) vs 8.81% (FG); descriptor 'Green, stale'. The paper attributes the SG-vs-FG difference to lower carnitine content in SG meat promoting lipid deposition that yields more nonanal and octanal — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Nonanal')
• 2-OctenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 26 of 341 ingredients.cite

  2.51% (SG, significantly higher, P<0.05) vs 1.29% (FG); descriptor 'Fatty' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Octenal')
• 2-NonenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 22 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.65% (SG) vs 0.39% (FG); descriptor 'Fishy, tallow' — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Nonenal')
• 2,4-decadienalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 12 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.57% (SG) vs 0.26% (FG); descriptor 'Fatty, meat' -- one of the few compounds in this table the paper's own descriptor column ties directly to a meaty rather than fatty-generic note — Weng et al. 2022, Foods (Table 5, row 'Decadienal')