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Stewed Terrapin

A creamy stew of cooked terrapin with eggs, butter, cream, spices, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stewed Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs to a paste.

  2. Mix the egg yolks with the butter.

  3. Stir this mixture into the hot cream in a double boiler.

  4. Cook while stirring until smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Season with salt, paprika, and nutmeg.

  2. Add the cooked terrapin and cook for 15 minutes.

  3. Just before serving, stir in the sherry.

  4. Serve in very hot soup plates.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + sherrytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,246 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mashed into the butter and cream, they thicken the stew and give it a rich, smooth body.
Butter
Adds fat that carries flavor and gives the sauce a silky, rich mouthfeel.
Hot cream
Forms the liquid base of the stew and, with the yolks, creates a smooth, velvety texture.
Cooked terrapin
Provides the main meat, which is heated through in the creamy base.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich cream and butter.

The step that matters

Cook the yolk mixture into the cream while stirring. Egg yolks can curdle or turn grainy if they get too hot too fast. Stirring constantly in a double boiler spreads the heat gently so the sauce stays smooth and thickens evenly.

“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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