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Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made with veal, turtle meat, herbs, vegetables, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turtle

  1. Cut around the under shell of the turtle.

  2. Separate the callipee from the callipash.

  3. Remove the gut without breaking the gall.

  4. Set aside the hearts in a basin of water.

  5. Chop the veal.

  6. Scald the head, callipee, and soft parts of the callipash, removing any skin.

  7. Boil until tender.

  8. Cut into squares.

Make the soup

  1. Place the veal in a large pot with the turtle meat, herbs, carrots, onions, ham, peppercorns, salt, spices, and bay leaves.

  2. Stew until it takes on the color of espagnole.

  3. Add the fins and hearts with half water and half beef stock.

  4. Skim the mixture.

  5. Add a bunch of parsley, boiling gently like consomme.

  6. Prepare the thickening for the soup as you would for sauce tournec.

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

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

  3. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + beeftop 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

Veal
Provides the main meaty body and rich, gelatinous flavor of the broth.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty depth that rounds out the stock.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stewing base.
Onions
Add aromatic sweetness and savory depth as they cook down.
Beef stock
Adds body and savory flavor to the liquid for simmering.

The step that matters

Stew until it takes on the color of espagnole. Browning the meat and vegetables builds deep, roasted flavor through the Maillard reaction. Stopping too early leaves the soup pale and flat, while overcooking can dull the flavor.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

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