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Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from calf’s head, broth, and meatballs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare and simmer the head

  1. Soak the calf's head in cold water.

  2. Wipe the calf's head clean.

  3. Place the calf's head in a pot with 3 quarts of water.

  4. Bring the pot to a boil.

  5. Skim the surface carefully.

  6. Add the onion, mixed spice, salt, and pepper.

  7. Simmer slowly for 2 to 3 hours.

Make the stock

  1. Remove the tongue and meat from the cheek.

  2. Cut the meat into dice and set it aside.

  3. Return the bones to the pot.

  4. Boil for an additional 4 hours.

  5. Strain the broth.

Make the meatballs

  1. Collect the pieces of meat.

  2. Chop the meat finely.

  3. Mix the chopped meat with a little potato flour.

  4. Form the mixture into balls.

  5. Brown the meatballs in the oven at 400°F (200°C).

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Stir the melted butter into the stock gradually.

  3. Add the diced meat to the mixture.

  4. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.

  5. Serve with thin slices of lemon and the meatballs as garnish.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Potato + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together968 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Provides the meat and gelatin-rich bones that give the broth its body and flavour.
Potato flour
Binds the chopped meat so it holds together as meatballs, and thickens the soup.
Butter
Melted into the stock to add richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness to the broth as it simmers.
Mixed spice
Adds warm aroma to the broth during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Skim the surface carefully. Foam and fat that rise early in simmering can cloud the broth and taste greasy. Removing them while the liquid is still at a gentle boil keeps the stock clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, flour, butter, onion, sherry, mushroom, ketchup):

  1. Avocadofits about as well
  2. Applefits about as well
  3. Grapefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, butter, onion, sherry, mushroom, ketchup. 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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