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Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from a calf's head, vegetables, herbs, and salt, simmered for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Wash the calf's head thoroughly.

  2. Remove the skin from the calf's head.

  3. Remove the tongue and brains without breaking them.

  4. Split the head for cleaning. Wash the split head in cold water.

  5. Place the bones in a soup kettle. Lay the skin and tongue on top of the bones.

Make the stock

  1. Cover the kettle with cold water. Heat the kettle slowly to boiling.

  2. Skim off any scum that rises.

  3. Add the carrot, turnip, onion, bouquet of herbs, and salt. Cover the kettle.

  4. Boil gently for 2 hours.

  5. Remove the head and tongue from the kettle. Wrap the head and tongue in a wet cloth.

  6. Continue boiling for 4 more hours.

  7. Strain the soup.

Finish the soup

  1. Cool the strained soup as directed for clear soup stock. Remove the fat from the cooled soup.

  2. Dice the thinnest parts of the head.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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 and meat that give the soup its body and richness.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the stock as it simmers.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the stock.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the stock.

The step that matters

Heating slowly to boiling and skimming scum. Starting in cold water and heating gradually lets impurities and proteins rise as scum, which can be skimmed off. Boiling too hard too early can cloud the stock and make it less clear.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, parsley):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, parsley. 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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