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Mock Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made from calf's head, stock, herbs, Madeira, milk, flour, egg yolks, and optional forcemeat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Scald the calf's head.

  2. Cut it into 1-inch squares.

  3. Wash and clean well.

  4. Dry with a cloth.

Stew the soup

  1. Place the pieces in a stewpan with 2 gallons of stock, sweet basil, marjoram, savory, thyme, and parsley.

  2. Add ground cloves, mace, and Madeira or sherry.

  3. Stew gently for 4 hours.

Thicken and finish

  1. In a separate pan, heat the milk and mix in the flour until smooth.

  2. Stir in the egg yolks and heat until near boiling.

  3. Gradually add the milk mixture to the soup while stirring to prevent curdling.

  4. Let it stew together for another 30 minutes.

  5. Before serving, add the forcemeat balls and chopped hard-boiled egg yolks.

  6. Off the heat, squeeze in the lemon juice.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Basil + thymetop 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

Calf's head
Provides gelatin-rich meat and connective tissue that give the soup body after long stewing.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so it can lightly body the soup.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the milk mixture, adding richness and smoothness to the soup.
Madeira or sherry
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the stewed broth.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, heavy soup.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk mixture to the soup while stirring. Egg yolks and milk curdle if they meet hot liquid too quickly. Adding the mixture slowly while stirring tempers it, keeping the soup smooth instead of grainy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley, clove, sherry, milk):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against basil, marjoram, thyme, parsley, clove, sherry, milk. 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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