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Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from calf head liquor, onion, cloves, herbs, parsley, meat extract, sugar, lemon juice, sherry, forcemeat balls, and diced gelatinous parts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram 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 broth

  1. Skim and strain the liquor from the boiled calf's head.

  2. Boil the strained liquor with the onion, cloves, herbs, and parsley until well flavored.

  3. Strain the mixture again and color it with the meat extract.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the sugar and thicken to the consistency of very thin cream.

  2. Stir in the lemon juice, sherry, and forcemeat balls.

  3. Serve very hot, adding the diced gelatinous parts of the calf's head.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head liquor
Provides the rich, gelatinous body and meaty base of the soup.
Meat extract
Deepens the savoury flavour and darkens the colour of the broth.
Corn flour or arrowroot
Thickens the broth to a light, creamy consistency.
Sherry
Adds aromatic depth and a subtle acidic sharpness to the soup.
Lemon juice
Brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the broth.

The step that matters

Thickening the broth. Corn flour or arrowroot must be fully dispersed and gently simmered to thicken evenly. Added to hot liquid without being mixed smoothly first, starch clumps and never fully hydrates, leaving lumps and a dull texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, thyme, marjoram, parsley, meat, corn, lemon):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, thyme, marjoram, parsley, meat, corn, lemon. 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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