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Mock Turtle Soup, of Calf's Head

A soup made from calf's head, ham, herbs, Madeira, and lemon, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup, of Calf's Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the calf's head

  1. Scald a well‑cleansed calf's head.

  2. Remove the brain.

  3. Tie the head up in a cloth.

  4. Boil for an hour, or until the meat will easily slip from the bone.

  5. Take out the head and save the broth.

  6. Cut the head into small square pieces.

  7. Throw the pieces into cold water.

  8. When cool, put the pieces in a stewpan and cover with some of the broth.

  9. Let it boil until quite tender, then set aside.

Make the soup

  1. In another stewpan melt some butter.

  2. Add a quarter pound of lean ham, cut small, with fine herbs to taste.

  3. Add parsley and one onion.

  4. Add about a pint of the broth.

  5. Let it simmer for two hours.

  6. Dredge in a small quantity of flour.

  7. Add the remainder of the broth.

  8. Add a quarter bottle of Madeira or sherry.

  9. Let all stew quietly for ten minutes.

  10. Rub through a medium sieve.

  11. Add the calf's head.

  12. Season with a very little cayenne pepper, a little salt, the juice of one lemon, and, if desired, a quarter teaspoonful pounded mace and a dessert spoon sugar.

Serve

  1. Add the force meat balls to the soup.

  2. Serve hot after five minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

311Calories
29 gProtein
15 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head (in the method)
Supplies the gelatinous meat and tender pieces that give the soup body.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, meaty flavour to the stock as it simmers.
Butter (in the method)
Melted fat that carries the flavour of the herbs and onion before the broth is added.
Flour (in the method)
A small dredging of flour that thickens the soup slightly as it stews.
Madeira
Adds wine acidity and a rich, aromatic sweetness to the finished soup.
Lemon
Its juice adds acidity that brightens the rich broth.

The step that matters

Letting the calf's head boil until quite tender. Boiling gently until the meat is fully tender lets collagen break down into gelatin, giving body to the broth. Undercooked meat stays tough and the soup tastes thin.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, lemon, parsley, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, lemon, parsley, pepper. 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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