Veal Terrapin
One pound lean veal, quarter pound veal liver, teaspoonful onion juice and four cloves. Cover with water and boil until tender. When cold cut meat and liver into small pieces. Thicken the water they were boiled in with a tablespoonful of butter rolled in about the same quantity of browned flour (or a little less of the latter). Pour this gravy over the meat and add two hard boiled eggs, cut fine, and a wineglassful of sherry with red pepper, and salt to taste. Heat and serve in chafing dish.
A clever “mock terrapin” — veal and its liver standing in for the costly turtle, dressed in the same rich, sherried, egg-thickened sauce.
- An imitation — and a good thingReal terrapin (the diamondback turtle) was a Gilded Age luxury and is now a species of conservation concern. This veal version gives the classic flavor with none of the ethical or legal trouble.
- Onion juice, not onionGrate an onion and press out the juice for seasoning without pieces — about a teaspoon.
- Browned flour thickensFlour toasted to a nutty brown thickens with deeper color and flavor. Cook it with the butter, then whisk into the reserved cooking water for the gravy.
- A wineglassful of sherryThat’s about ¼ cup (2 fl oz) — the signature note of any terrapin-style dish.
- The chafing dishA tabletop chafing dish gently warms and serves; a small pan over low heat does the same. Fold in the chopped egg at the very end so it doesn’t break up.
In the nineteenth century, diamondback terrapin was the height of American luxury dining — a Chesapeake delicacy served in the finest hotels, stewed with cream, sherry, and hard-boiled egg. Demand grew so ferocious that wild terrapin were hunted to the brink, and today the diamondback is protected across much of its range. Small wonder that thrifty and inland cooks devised “mock” versions using veal, calf’s liver, or chicken to mimic the prized dish at a fraction of the cost. This recipe is a delicious fossil of that vanished craze — the taste of terrapin without the terrapin.
From page 24 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
