Veal Terrapin
From the treasured pages of Cooking in old Créole days. La cuisine créole à l'usage des petits ménages
Written by Célestine Eustis
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 butterr 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."
Note on the Original Text
Like many historical recipes, the instructions are concise and presuppose a degree of culinary familiarity. Quantities are given in vague measures like 'one wineglassful' and 'teaspoonful,' reflecting a reliance on intuition and experience, not precision. Spelling is largely modern, but the style is a touch florid and assumes the cook understands basic kitchen processes, such as making a roux or browning flour. The recipe’s sequencing encourages mise en place, but without explicit timings or modern step-by-step clarity.
Title
Cooking in old Créole days. La cuisine créole à l'usage des petits ménages (1903)
You can also click the book image above to peruse the original tome
Writer
Célestine Eustis
Era
1903
Publisher
R.H. Russell
Background
Take a delicious journey back in time with this charming bilingual collection of Creole and American recipes, crafted for cozy households. Célestine Eustis blends French flair with Southern soul, guiding both the novice and seasoned gourmand through the distinct flavors and delightful traditions of old Creole kitchens.
Kindly made available by
Internet Archive
This recipe hails from the legendary culinary melting pot of New Orleans, as recorded in 'Cooking in Old Créole Days' published in 1903. Creole cuisine is renowned for its blending of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences, making generous use of local ingredients and imported spices. The use of a chafing dish for service underscores the elegant, social aspect of dining in upper-class Creole households at the turn of the 20th century. Veal terrapin takes inspiration from classic American 'mock terrapin' recipes, which creatively substitute veal for more expensive turtle meat, popular in the 19th-century South. The presence of sherry and hard-boiled eggs is a nod to both French and English culinary traditions.
The dish would originally be prepared in heavy-bottomed saucepans or cast iron pots for boiling the meat and liver. A chafing dish, often silver-plated, was used for gently reheating and serving the terrapin at the table — this allowed the host to keep the dish warm and show off a bit of tableside theatrics. Other tools included a kitchen knife for chopping, a butter knife for mixing butter and flour, a strainer for making onion juice, and a spoon or whisk for stirring the gravy.
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Servings
4
We've done our best to adapt this historical recipe for modern kitchens, but some details may still need refinement. We warmly welcome feedback from fellow cooks and culinary historians — your insights support the entire community!
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean veal
- 4 ounces veal liver
- 1 teaspoon onion juice (or grate fresh onion and strain)
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 quart water (enough to cover meat)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon browned (toasted) flour
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- Salt, to taste
- Red pepper or cayenne, to taste
Instructions
- Start by taking 1 pound of lean veal and 4 ounces of veal liver.
- Add a teaspoon (1 teaspoon) of onion juice and four whole cloves to a pot, cover with enough water (about 1 quart) to submerge the meat, and gently simmer until the veal and liver are fork-tender, approximately 45–60 minutes.
- Remove the meats and let them cool, reserving the cooking liquid.
- Once cool, cut the veal and liver into small bite-sized cubes.
- In a small bowl, mash together 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter and about 1 tablespoon of browned flour (toast flour in a dry pan until golden), then whisk this mixture into the reserved cooking broth to thicken it into a gravy.
- Place the chopped meats in the gravy, add two hard-boiled eggs (finely chopped), and pour in 1/4 cup of dry sherry.
- Season generously with salt and a pinch (less than 1/4 teaspoon) of cayenne or red pepper to taste.
- Reheat everything gently (do not boil) and serve hot, ideally in a chafing dish for tradition.
Estimated Calories
330 per serving
Cooking Estimates
It takes about 20 minutes to prep the ingredients and set up, then you simmer the meats for up to an hour. This recipe serves about 4 people and each serving has around 330 calories.
As noted above, we have made our best effort to translate and adapt this historical recipe for modern kitchens, taking into account ingredients nowadays, cooking techniques, measurements, and so on. However, historical recipes often contain assumptions that require interpretation.
We'd love for anyone to help improve these adaptations. Community contributions are highly welcome. If you have suggestions, corrections, or cooking tips based on your experience with this recipe, please share them below.
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