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Mock Terrapin

A liver or veal or chicken dish with mustard, eggs, butter, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mock Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Take a calf's liver or an equal quantity of cold veal or chicken, hash it rather coarsely.

  2. Season and flour it thickly.

  3. Fry and brown it in butter.

  4. If liver is used, it must be first browned as in the first recipe.

Make the sauce

  1. Add 1 teaspoon French mustard, a little cayenne, 2 hardboiled eggs chopped fine, a lump of butter the size of an egg, and 1 cup water.

  2. Let it boil for a few minutes.

  3. Or, rub the butter and flour together in a hot saucepan.

  4. Add a pint of milk and bring to a boil.

  5. Add the meat, salt, and pepper.

  6. Stir until thoroughly heated, then remove from heat.

  7. Stir in the beaten yolk of 1 egg, 2 tablespoons sherry, and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

  8. Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

221Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
4 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's liver or veal (in the method)
Provides the meaty base that gives the dish its body and savory flavor.
Hardboiled eggs
Chopped finely, they add richness and body to the sauce.
Egg yolk
Beaten into the hot sauce, it enriches and thickens it for a smooth, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and with flour forms the base that thickens the sauce.
Sherry
Adds a sweet, aromatic acidity that brightens the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Stir in the beaten egg yolk after removing from heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat and can curdle or scramble if it boils, so it should be added off the heat to keep the sauce smooth.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, parsley, egg, butter, pepper. 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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