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Mook Turtle Soup

A soup of calf's head, ham, herbs, mushrooms, and force meat balls simmered in stock and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Mook Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Scald the calf's head and remove the brain.

  2. Tie the head in a cloth and boil for 1 hour.

  3. Cut the meat into small square pieces and set aside.

  4. In a stewpan, cover the meat with cold water and boil gently for 1 hour or until tender.

Make the soup base

  1. Melt butter in another stewpan.

  2. Add the chopped ham, herbs, parsley, onions, and mushrooms, and heat until hot.

  3. Sift in the flour, stir, and let it brown.

  4. Gradually add 1 pint of stock and the wine.

  5. Stew gently for 10 minutes.

  6. Pass the mixture through a sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the tender pieces of calf's head.

  2. Season with cayenne, add salt if needed, and add mace if desired.

  3. Add sugar.

  4. Add the force meat balls and let them simmer for 5 minutes before serving.

  5. Stew the bones in the liquid from boiling the head to make good white stock.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the soup once cooked in butter and browned, adding body and a nutty flavour.
Butter
Carries the aromatics and helps the flour brown, adding richness to the base.
Onions
Soften and brown in the butter, adding sweetness and depth to the soup.
Sherry or madeira
Adds acidity and aroma, rounding out the savoury flavour of the soup.
Stock
Forms the main liquid that gives the soup its body and savoury character.
Ham
Contributes salty, savoury meatiness to the flavour base.

The step that matters

Browning the flour in butter. Sifting flour into hot butter and letting it brown cooks out its raw taste and builds flavour. Stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching, and the stock must be added gradually so the thickening stays smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, parsley, mushroom, lemon, thyme, marjoram, basil):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, parsley, mushroom, lemon, thyme, marjoram, basil. 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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