Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓
Terrapin
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the terrapin
Boil the terrapins in their shells until cooked.
Allow them to cool, then remove the shells.
Take out the gall bladder and cut the terrapin into good-sized pieces.
Finish and serve
In a chafing dish, combine the terrapin pieces with cream, butter, and sherry or madeira.
Stir well and serve.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Terrapin
- Provides the main protein, with a firm, meaty texture once cooked.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, thickened body to the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel in the sauce.
- Sherry or madeira
- Adds acidity and fortified wine aroma that balances the rich cream.
The step that matters
Removing the gall bladder. The gall bladder is bitter and can taint the meat if it is punctured or left in. Removing it cleanly before cutting keeps the flavour of the terrapin clean.
“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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