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A LA Princesse

A terrine made from calf brain and liver, seasoned with aspic, mayonnaise, and spices, served on tomato and garnished with capsicum, egg yolk, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and capsicum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 33,217 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the gills from the calf's brain and pound it until smooth.

  2. Pass the cooked liver through a mincer and then through a sieve.

Make the terrine

  1. Mix the pounded brain with the minced liver, cream, mayonnaise, aspic jelly, mace, salt, and pepper.

  2. Fill small dariole moulds with the mixture and allow to set.

Serve

  1. Turn out each mould onto a slice of seasoned tomato.

  2. Garnish with capsicum, yolk of egg set with jelly, and parsley.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pepper + capsicumtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together33,217 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + tarragontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,691 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Tarragon + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + capsicumtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,644 recipes

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

  5. Tarragon + capsicumtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together524 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's brain
Provides the smooth, rich body that forms the main texture of the terrine.
Liver
Adds depth of flavour and a firm, rich structure once chilled.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the mixture tender rather than dry.
Mayonnaise sauce
Adds fat and richness, helping the mixture stay smooth and moist.
Aspic jelly
Sets the mixture so the terrine holds its shape when turned out.

The step that matters

Allow the moulds to set. The aspic jelly must set fully so the terrine holds its shape when turned out. Turning out too early can cause the moulds to break apart.

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, sauce, pepper, tarragon, vinegar, cream, capsicum):

  1. Celerybetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Basilbetter flavor fit
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, sauce, pepper, tarragon, vinegar, cream, capsicum. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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