Name: Calf's Head Terrapin
Ingredients: 1 teacup (½ cup) of cream; ½ teaspoon of salt; a pinch of cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons of sherry; 2 egg yolks; 1 tablespoon of butter; 1 tablespoon of flour; cooked meat (chicken, turkey, game, or veal)

Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Calf's Head Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

In a stewpan, heat the stock.
In a bowl, beat the flour and butter together until smooth.
Stir the flour and butter mixture into the boiling stock, stirring constantly until thick and smooth.
Add the cooked meat, salt, and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the sherry.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Meat Croquettes52 recipes

Meatballs37 recipes

Mince Meat37 recipes

Meat Cakes35 recipes

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Calf's Head Terrapin