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 ↓
Turtle Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
In a clean tin-lined pot, combine the lemon juice and Madeira wine.
Cook for 10 minutes over heat, then remove from fire.
Serve
In each soup plate, add diced turtle meat, quenelles, chopped parsley, and truffles.
Pour one ladle of soup into each plate and serve.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Meat + truffletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together527 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Madeira wine + truffletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together195 recipes
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Meat + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,040 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + truffletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,119 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Madeira wine
- Adds sweetness and aroma, and its acidity balances the richness of the meat.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the soup and balances its sweetness.
- Turtle meat
- Provides the main meaty body and texture of the soup.
- Quenelles
- Add a soft, delicate texture contrasting with the diced meat.
- Truffles
- Add a deep, earthy aroma to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Cooking the Madeira and lemon mixture. Simmering for the stated time reduces the wine's harsh alcohol and concentrates its sweetness and flavour. Removing it from the heat promptly prevents the acidity and flavour from becoming overly sharp or cooked down too far.
“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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