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Mock Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made from calf head, veal knuckle, beef shin, water, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Scald the calf's head.

  2. Split the calf's head.

  3. Remove the brains and nose bones.

  4. Soak the calf's head in lukewarm water, changing the water often.

  5. Cover the head with cold water in a stew-pan. Bring the water to a boil. Skim the surface.

  6. Boil gently for 30-40 minutes.

  7. Remove the head.

  8. Let the head cool.

  9. Cut the head into small pieces.

  10. Skin the tongue.

  11. Set the meat aside covered until the next day.

Make the stock

  1. In the soup kettle, add the bones and refuse parts of the head.

  2. Add the knuckle of veal.

  3. Add the soaked shin of beef.

  4. Boil the mixture. Skim the surface.

  5. Simmer gently for 4.5 to 6 hours.

  6. Strain the stock into a pan. Discard the sediment.

  7. Let the stock cool.

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. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Provides gelatin and body, giving the soup its rich, thick texture.
Knuckle of veal
Adds collagen-rich bone and connective tissue that enriches the stock's body and flavour.
Shin of beef
Contributes collagen and meaty depth that builds the stock's savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Skim the surface. Skimming removes coagulated proteins and fat that would otherwise cloud the stock and taste greasy. Keeping the simmer gentle prevents emulsifying fat and cloudiness.

“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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