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Mock-turtle Soup

A hearty soup made from beef, veal, and calf head, simmered with vegetables and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mock-turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Put 1 gallon of cold water in a pot the day before.

  2. Add beef, carrots, onion, celery, herbs, mace, peppercorns, and salt.

  3. Cook until the meat is tender.

  4. Strain the broth.

  5. Pour the broth over the veal.

  6. Simmer gently until the meat falls off the bones.

  7. Strain the stock into a clean dish.

  8. Let the stock cool.

  9. Remove the fat from the cooled stock.

Prepare the calf's head

  1. Bone the calf's head.

  2. Roll the calf's head up.

  3. Tie the rolled head with tape.

Make the soup

  1. Add the head to the stock.

  2. Bring the stock to a gentle boil.

  3. Simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes, skimming regularly.

  4. Lift the head into a bowl.

  5. Pour the soup over the head.

  6. Let the soup sit until nearly cold.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 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

Beef shin or neck
Breaks down into the rich, gelatin-filled body of the stock as it simmers.
Veal knuckle or neck
Adds collagen that turns into gelatin, giving the stock body and a silky mouthfeel.
Calf's head
Supplies skin and connective tissue that set into a firm, gelatinous texture when cooled.
Carrots
Release sweetness and body into the stock during the long simmer.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma to the stock as it cooks.
Celery
Contributes aromatic flavor to the stock during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Remove the fat from the cooled stock. Fat floats and solidifies as the stock cools, so it can be lifted off cleanly. Leaving it in would make the soup greasy and cloud its clear appearance.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, celery, veal, ham):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, celery, veal, ham. 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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