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Mock Turtle Soup Stock

A stock made from a calf's head, vegetables, and spices, used for mock turtle soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Choose a fresh calf's head with clear white skin.

  2. Remove all hairs and wipe with a clean damp cloth.

  3. Lay the head on its face, cut from the throat to the lower jaw, and carefully remove the skin. Soak it in cold water.

  4. Remove the tongue whole. Soak it in cold water.

  5. Using a sharp meat saw, cut out the portion of the head between the ears and above the eyes, lifting out the brain carefully. Soak the brain in cold salted water.

  6. Cut the head in half, remove the nasal lining, and scald it thoroughly.

Make the stock

  1. Place it in the bottom of a soup kettle.

  2. Roll the tongue in the skin, tie it loosely with twine, and place it on the bones.

  3. Cover with 8 quarts of cold water.

  4. Bring the kettle to a boil slowly, skimming off any scum that rises.

  5. Once the broth is clear, move the kettle to the side of the fire for a slow boil.

  6. Add the carrot, turnip, and onion.

  7. Tie the mace, allspice, bay leaf, and nutmeg in a fine cloth and add to the soup.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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 gelatin-rich bones, skin and meat that give the stock body and richness.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as it simmers.
Turnip
Contributes mild sweetness and earthy flavour to the broth.
Onion
Builds savoury depth and aroma in the stock as it simmers.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum while bringing the kettle to a boil. Bringing the kettle to a boil slowly and skimming off scum keeps the broth clear. Letting it boil hard early emulsifies impurities into the liquid, leaving it cloudy and greasy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, clove, mace, allspice, nutmeg):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Arrowrootfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, clove, mace, allspice, nutmeg. 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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