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Stewed Terrapin

A stew of terrapin meat cooked with egg yolk, butter, cream, spices, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Prepare the terrapin

  1. Drop the terrapins into hard-boiling water.

  2. Cook the terrapins for 1 hour or until the skin comes off easily from the heads and feet.

  3. Let the terrapins cool completely.

  4. Remove the shells, intestines, lights, heads, hearts, tails, and feet, being careful not to break the gall-bag.

  5. Dice the meat.

  6. Place the diced meat in a saucepan and just cover with water.

  7. Stew the meat for 15 minutes after reaching a boil.

Make the cream sauce

  1. Rub the yolk of one hard-boiled egg per terrapin into a powder.

  2. Mix the powdered yolk with butter to form a paste, using 1 teaspoon of butter per terrapin.

  3. Heat 3 tablespoons of cream in a saucepan for each terrapin, adding a pinch of baking soda.

  4. Gradually pour the heated cream onto the egg-and-butter paste.

  5. Season the mixture with paprika or cayenne, salt, and a pinch of nutmeg or mace.

Combine and serve

  1. Stir the seasoned mixture into the stewed terrapin.

  2. Cook for 2 minutes or until scalding hot.

  3. Add 1 teaspoon of sherry per terrapin.

  4. Serve hot immediately.

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

Terrapin
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender after boiling and stewing.
Hard-boiled egg yolk
Powdered and mixed with butter, it thickens and enriches the cream sauce.
Butter
Blends with the egg yolk into a paste that adds richness and smoothness.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, forming the body of the sauce with the yolk paste.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a touch of acidity and sweetness at the end.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the heated cream onto the egg-and-butter paste.. Adding hot cream slowly and stirring keeps the yolk and butter emulsified and smooth instead of clumping, giving the sauce an even texture.

“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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