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Mock Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made from beef, veal, ham, calf head, herbs, and spices, simmered slowly to produce a rich stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 35 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Stew gently down in a gallon of water four pounds of the fleshy part of the shin of beef, or of the neck, with two or three carrots, one onion, a small head of celery, a bunch of savoury herbs, a blade of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt.

  2. When the meat is in fragments, strain off the broth, pour it when cold onto three pounds of the knuckle or neck of veal, and simmer until the flesh has fallen from the bones, keeping the stew soft to avoid excessive reduction.

  3. Strain the soup through a hair-sieve into a clean pan and drain closely from the meat.

  4. When the soup is nearly or quite cold, clear off all the fat.

Prepare the head and finish

  1. Take half of a fine calf's head with skin on, remove the brains, bone it entirely, and return the bones; these may be stewed with the veal or boiled later with the head and tongue.

  2. Roll the head lightly round, leaving the tongue inside or taking it out, secure it with tape or twine, pour the soup over, and bring it gently to boil over a moderate fire.

  3. Keep it well skimmed and simmer from an hour to an hour and a quarter.

  4. Lift the head into a deep pan or tureen, add the soup to it, and let it remain until nearly cold to prevent dark edges.

Prepare the garnish

  1. Cut the lean of an undressed ham into quarter-inch slices and dice, from six to eight ounces, free it from fat, rind, and smoked edges.

  2. Peel and slice four moderate-sized eschalots, or if unavailable, use one mild onion instead.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1141Calories
69 gProtein
42 gFat
117 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 14 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Saucenot 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 Eliza Acton. 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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 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

Shin of beef
Long simmering draws gelatin and flavour from the meat into the broth, giving body.
Knuckle of veal
Its bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the stock body and a silky mouthfeel.
Calf's head
Skin and gelatinous tissue melt during simmering, thickening the soup and adding richness.
Lean ham
Adds smoky, savoury flavour that deepens the broth.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the finished soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup slightly when cooked with the fat.

The step that matters

Clearing the fat and cooling the head. Fat left in the stock turns the soup greasy, and letting the head cool in the soup until nearly cold keeps its edges pale rather than darkened.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, butter, flour, celery, carrot, onion):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, butter, flour, celery, carrot, onion. 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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