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Mock Terrapin

A dish of calf's head and liver with onions, pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and butter, topped with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the liver until tender.

  2. Boil the calf's head until the bones can be pulled out.

  3. Cut the boiled calf's head into large pieces.

Assemble and bake

  1. Mix the chopped onions with pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.

  2. Combine the liver, calf's head, and onion mixture in a buttered dish.

  3. Top with bread crumbs and small bits of butter to brown.

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. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Onion + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Forms the main body of the dish and gives it a meaty, gelatinous texture when boiled.
Calves' liver
Adds a rich, deep flavour and a softer texture to the mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown in the oven.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp topping that browns under the butter.

The step that matters

Boil the calf's head until the bones can be pulled out. Boiling must go long enough to soften the connective tissue and bones fully; undercooked meat stays tough and clings to the bones, while the gelatin released during slow cooking gives body to the finished dish.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pepper, nutmeg, allspice, butter, sherry, wine):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pepper, nutmeg, allspice, butter, sherry, wine. 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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