Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Stewed Water Turtles, or Terrapins
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the terrapins
Select the largest, thickest, and fattest female terrapins, ensuring they are alive.
Wash the terrapins.
Place the terrapins in boiling water with a little salt.
Boil for 10 to 15 minutes until thoroughly cooked.
Remove the shell, extract the meat, and discard the sand-bag, gall, and entrails.
Cut the meat into pieces.
Stew and make the sauce
Place the meat in a stewpan with its eggs and enough fresh butter to stew well.
Cover the pan and heat until hot throughout, shaking it occasionally to retain flavor.
In another pan, make a sauce with beaten egg yolk, Madeira or sherry, nutmeg, mace, ½ cup currant jelly, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste, enriched with a large lump of fresh butter.
Stir the sauce over the fire until it almost boils, then remove from heat.
Serve
Serve the terrapins hot in a covered dish and the sauce separately in a sauce tureen.
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.
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Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Sherry + curranttop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Mace + curranttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,791 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Female terrapins
- Provide the main meat, which is firm and rich when chosen fat and thick.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping the meat stew gently without drying.
- Beaten egg yolk
- Thickens the sauce as it heats and gives it a smooth, rich body.
- Madeira or sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce.
- Currant jelly
- Contributes sweetness and a fruity tartness that balances the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the sauce over the fire. Egg yolk thickens through gentle heat, but if the sauce boils hard it can curdle and turn grainy. Stir constantly and remove it once it almost boils.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sherry, nutmeg, mace, pepper):
- Lemonfits better
- Figfits better
- Plumfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sherry, nutmeg, mace, pepper. 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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