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Stewed Terrapin

A creamy stew of cooked terrapin with eggs, butter, cream, spices, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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

Make the sauce

  1. Mash the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs into a paste.

  2. Mix the egg paste with the butter.

  3. Stir this mixture into the hot cream in a double boiler.

  4. Cook while stirring until smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Season with salt, paprika, and nutmeg.

  2. Add the cooked terrapin and cook for 15 minutes.

  3. Just before serving, stir in the sherry.

  4. Serve in very hot soup plates.

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

Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mashed into a paste, they thicken the cream and give the dish a rich body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the sauce feel smooth and silky on the palate.
Hot cream
Forms the base of the sauce, providing moisture and a creamy texture as it thickens.
Cooked terrapin
Serves as the main protein, contributing meaty texture and savory flavor to the stew.
Sherry
Adds a light acidity and aromatic sweetness that brightens the rich cream.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg paste into the hot cream. Cream that is stirred constantly over gentle heat in a double boiler stays smooth. Direct high heat or lack of stirring can curdle or scorch the dairy and egg, leaving a grainy sauce.

“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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