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Veal Terrapin

A cold veal terrapin made with roast veal, eggs, mustard, salt, cayenne, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal Terrapin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the cut veal into a stew pan.

  2. In a bowl, mix the minced eggs, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, and cream (or butter).

Cook

  1. Pour the dressing over the veal and stir well.

  2. Cover and let it stew over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  2. Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Mustard + creamtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,935 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast veal
Forms the meat base of the dish, cooked gently in the dressing until heated through.
Hard boiled eggs
Minced into the dressing, they thicken it and add richness and body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the dressing coat the veal smoothly.
French mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that cuts through the richness of eggs and cream.

The step that matters

Stewing the veal in the dressing. Keep the heat moderate and the pan covered so the egg and cream dressing warms gently and does not curdle or stick. Stirring well ensures the dressing coats every piece evenly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, pepper, cream):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, pepper, cream. 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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