Why it works: Sherry and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,176 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Cook
In a pan, combine frog legs, butter, red pepper, and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add sherry and mushrooms, then cook for an additional 3 minutes.
Thicken and serve
Beat the egg yolks with the cream, then pour into the pan with the frog legs.
Gently shuffle the mixture until the sauce thickens.
Serve very hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sherry + mushroomtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,176 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together12,516 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + sherrytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,578 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Frog legs
- Provide the main protein, which becomes tender with brief cooking in butter.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the cream into a sauce as they gently set with heat.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, and combines with egg yolks to form a smooth sauce.
- Sherry or madeira
- Adds aromatic depth and acidity that balances the rich cream sauce.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavour and a soft texture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the egg and cream mixture. Egg yolks thicken when gently heated, but if the pan is too hot they can scramble and curdle. Keep the heat low and stir gently until the sauce thickens.
“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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