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Mock Turtle Soup

Mock Turtle Soup is a stew of calf's head, stock, herbs, Madeira, milk, butter, flour, egg yolks, and optional forcemeat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 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 and cut it into 1-inch squares.

  2. Wash and clean the pieces well, then dry them with a cloth.

Make the soup

  1. Place the pieces in a large stew pan with the stock, basil, marjoram, savory, thyme, parsley, cloves, mace, and Madeira or sherry.

  2. Stew gently for 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. In a separate pan, heat the butter and milk.

  2. Mix in the flour until smooth, then add the egg yolks, stirring constantly over low heat until near boiling.

  3. Gradually add this 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 hard-boiled egg yolks, if using.

  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 the gelatinous body and texture that gives mock turtle soup its character.
Stock or gravy
Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Flour
Thickens the enriched liquid so the soup becomes body-rich and smooth.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the mixture, adding richness and smoothness to the soup.
Madeira or sherry
Adds acidity and wine-based aroma that brightens the rich broth.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the thickening base.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk mixture to the soup. Egg yolks can curdle if they get too hot or are added directly to hot liquid. Heating gently and stirring while gradually adding the mixture keeps it smooth.

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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