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Veal Terrapin

A veal stew with flour, milk, lemon juice, eggs, salt, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Veal Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Cut lean roast veal into dice.

Make the sauce

  1. Brown one tablespoon flour.

  2. Add one cup milk and cook until smooth.

  3. Add the veal.

  4. Season to taste with salt and cayenne.

  5. Add three hard boiled eggs coarsely chopped.

  6. Add one-half teaspoon lemon juice and cook five minutes longer.

  7. Take from the tin.

Garnish and serve

  1. Garnish with potatoes and hard boiled eggs.

  2. Shrimps can be used instead of veal.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

700Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
112 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Flour
Browned first, it thickens the milk and adds a nutty flavour to the sauce.
Milk
Combines with the flour to form a smooth, creamy sauce that holds the dish together.
Eggs
Chopped hard-boiled eggs add firm texture and richness to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the sauce.

The step that matters

Add one cup milk and cook until smooth. Flour clumps when liquid is added too fast or unevenly. Adding the milk gradually while stirring lets the starch disperse and thicken evenly, giving a smooth sauce rather than lumps.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, egg. 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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