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Stewed Terrapins

A stew of cleaned terrapins simmered with cream, wine, butter, and egg yolks.

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

Stewed Terrapins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the terrapins

  1. Put the terrapins into boiling water and boil rapidly for 10-15 minutes until the nails come out and the black skin rubs off.

  2. Transfer the terrapins to fresh boiling water and boil until the under shell cracks, about 45 minutes.

  3. Remove the under shell.

  4. Discard the sand and gall bags.

  5. Take out the intestines.

  6. Boil the terrapins again in the same water for 1 hour.

  7. Pick the liver and meat from the upper shell.

  8. Cut the intestines into small pieces and add them to the meat.

  9. Pour enough of the boiling liquor over the mixture to make it moist and set aside until the next day.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. For each terrapin, combine ½ cup cream, ⅓ cup wine, ½ cup butter, and 2 rubbed hard-boiled egg yolks with salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Pour this mixture over the terrapin.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Serve.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Wine + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,066 recipes

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

  5. Cream + winetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Terrapins
Provide the main meat, which is cooked, picked and simmered in its own liquor.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel in the sauce.
Egg yolks
Rubbed smooth, they thicken the sauce and add richness.
Wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Bringing the mixture to a boil. Egg yolks in the sauce can curdle or turn grainy if overheated, so heat gently and watch closely once the cream, wine and yolks are combined.

“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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