Name: To Dress Calf's Head As Terrapin
Ingredients: 1 cleaned calf's head; water for soaking and boiling; brains and tongue from the calf's head; 6 hard-boiled egg yolks; 2 tablespoons browned flour; ¾ lb butter; 1 teacup cream; 1 glass wine

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Dress Calf's Head As Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

Soak the cleaned calf's head in water, changing the water several times until thoroughly clean.
Remove the brains and tongue, then cover the head with water and boil for 30 minutes.
Cut the meat into small pieces and save a bowl of the boiling liquid for later.

Make the terrapin

Beat together the yolks of 6 hard-boiled eggs and 2 tablespoons of browned flour with ¾ lb of butter in a bowl.
Put the meat in a pot with the reserved liquid and heat it.
Stir in the flour mixture and bring to a boil.
Add 1 teacup of cream.
Stir in a glass of wine just before serving.
Serve very hot.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter 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

Egg yolks: Thicken the sauce and add richness as they set gently with heat.
Browned flour: Thickens the sauce and adds a toasted, nutty flavour.
Butter: Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, softening the sauce's texture.
Wine: Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Bringing the flour and yolk mixture to a boil. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle or turn grainy if overheated or boiled hard. Stirring constantly while the mixture comes to a boil keeps the sauce smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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To Dress Calf's Head As Terrapin