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Soup

Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from stock gravy, herbs, Madeira or sherry, milk, egg yolks and forcemeat balls, in imitation of turtle soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the soup base

  1. Wash and clean the ingredients well, then dry them with a cloth.

  2. In a stew-pan, combine stock gravy, sweet basil, marjoram, savory, thyme, parsley, cloves, mace, and Madeira or sherry.

  3. Stew gently for four hours.

Make the custard

  1. In a separate pan, heat butter and milk, then mix in flour until smooth.

  2. Stir in the egg yolks and heat over a gentle fire until near boiling.

  3. Gradually add this mixture to the soup while stirring to prevent curdling.

Finish and serve

  1. Let the soup stew together for another half hour.

  2. Before serving, add forcemeat balls and hard-boiled egg yolks.

  3. Remove from heat and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so it blends smoothly into the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the custard, adding body and richness to the soup.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that gives the finishing mixture its smooth texture.
Stock gravy
Forms the liquid body of the soup that the other ingredients simmer in.
Madeira or sherry
Adds depth and a mild sweetness to the simmered soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, creamy soup at the end.

The step that matters

Adding the custard to the soup. Egg yolks curdle when heated too quickly or added directly to a hot liquid. Gradually whisking the warm mixture into the soup keeps the proteins from scrambling, so the finished soup stays smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley, clove, sherry, milk):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley, clove, sherry, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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