Name: Mock Turtle or Calf's-head Soup
Ingredients: a gallon of water; one large calf's head; four pig's feet; five hard-boiled eggs to a paste in a wedgewood mortar; two eggs beaten very light; salt

Mock Turtle or Calf's-head Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

Place a large calf's head, well cleansed and washed, and four pig's feet in the bottom of a large pot, and cover with a gallon of water.
Boil for three hours, or until the flesh will slip from the bones.
Remove the head, leaving the feet to continue boiling while the meat is cut from the head.
Take the soup from the fire and set it aside until the next day.

Finish the soup

An hour before dinner, set the stock over the fire, and when it boils, strain carefully and drop in the reserved meat, cut into small squares.
Prepare the force-meat balls: rub the yolks of five hard-boiled eggs into a paste in a wedgewood mortar or in a bowl with the back of a silver spoon, gradually adding the brains to moisten them, along with a little butter and salt.
Mix the paste with two eggs beaten very lightly, flour the hands, and shape into balls about the size of a pigeon's egg.
Throw the balls into the soup five minutes before taking it from the fire.
Stir in a large tablespoon of browned flour rubbed smooth in a little cold water.
Finish seasoning by adding a glass and a half of sherry or Madeira wine, and the juice of a lemon.
The soup should not boil more than half an hour on the second day.
Serve with sliced lemons.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

78Calories

6 gProtein

5 gFat

1 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Sterrett, Laura C. 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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Calf's head: Provides the meat and gelatine that give the soup its body and rich texture.
Pig's feet: Add gelatine, which thickens the stock and gives it a silky mouthfeel.
Hard-boiled eggs: Their yolks bind with the paste to form smooth, firm force-meat balls.
Eggs: Beaten eggs bind the force-meat mixture so the balls hold their shape.
Browned flour (in the method): Thickens the soup and adds a toasted, nutty depth of flavour.
Sherry or madeira wine (in the method): Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding the force-meat balls. Dropping them in five minutes before the soup leaves the fire lets them poach gently and cook through. Boiling them too long or too hard can break them apart and make the soup cloudy.

“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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Mock Turtle or Calf's-head Soup