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Consomme Tortue

A consommé made from dried turtle pieces simmered with stock, sherry, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Basil and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,823 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Consomme Tortue

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turtle

  1. Soak the dried turtle in warm water for 48 hours, changing the water every 6 hours.

  2. Scald the turtle, then clean the turtle and scrape the inside of the turtle.

  3. Cut off ragged edges of the turtle.

  4. Cut the turtle into 1-inch squares.

Simmer

  1. Place the squares in a stewpan with 1 pint of Consomme per pound of turtle.

  2. Add a bag containing basil, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Seal the stewpan to exclude air.

  4. Place the stewpan in a bain-marie of boiling water.

  5. Simmer gently for 6 hours.

  6. Ensure all turtle pieces are soft.

Finish and serve

  1. Add 1 quart of Consomme.

  2. Add 1 quart of White Stock.

  3. Add 1 glass of sherry for each pound of turtle.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Serve with lemon and cayenne.

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. Basil + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,823 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  3. Basil + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,273 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Sherry + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried turtle
Provides the main meat and body of the consommé, becoming tender after long simmering.
Consomme (no. 27)
Supplies the liquid base that gently cooks and moistens the turtle pieces.
White stock (no. 28)
Adds further liquid and savory depth to the finished consommé.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a touch of acidity and sweetness to the finished broth.

The step that matters

Simmer gently in a sealed bain-marie. Gentle, enclosed heat softens the tough turtle slowly without boiling it hard, keeping the broth clear and the meat tender rather than stringy or cloudy.

Swap the basil

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, lemon, 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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