Name: Terrapin in Shells
Ingredients: Terrapin meat; Butter; Black pepper; Coarse sea salt; Cayenne pepper; Bread crumbs; Madeira or sherry; 2 hard-boiled egg yolks

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Terrapin in Shells

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the terrapin and remove the inedible parts from the meat.
Carefully remove the shell, clean it, scald it, and dry it.
Chop the terrapin meat finely and place it in a saucepan.
Add butter, black pepper, coarse sea salt, cayenne pepper, and bread crumbs soaked in Madeira or sherry.
Mix in the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, rubbed smooth, and heat until just boiling.
Fill the cleaned shells with the mixture and place them in the oven to brown.
Serve hot.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + sherrytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together682 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).