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Mock Turtle

A rich soup made from a calf's head, veal and beef broth, Madeira wine, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Clean the calf's head and cut it in half.

  2. Half-boil the head, then remove the meat in square pieces.

  3. Break the bones and boil them in veal and beef broth for richness.

Make the gravy

  1. Fry shallots in butter, then add flour to thicken the gravy.

  2. Stir the thickened gravy into the broth and bring to a boil.

Simmer and serve

  1. Skim the broth, then add the head and Madeira wine.

  2. Simmer until the meat is tender.

  3. Ten minutes before serving, add bay leaves, tarragon, chives, parsley, Cayenne pepper, salt, mushroom ketchup, and soy sauce.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice into the tureen and pour the soup over it.

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. Tarragon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Flour + chivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Beef + chivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together304 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Fat that cooks the shallots and starts the roux for the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy into a body-rich base for the soup.
Madeira wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the simmering broth.
Calf's head
Supplies the meat and gelatinous body that makes the soup rich.
Veal and beef broth
Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the bones.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with flour. Flour must be cooked in the butter before liquid is added; otherwise it stays raw-tasting and forms lumps rather than a smooth, evenly thickened gravy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, butter, flour, madeira wine, tarragon, chive):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, butter, flour, madeira wine, tarragon, chive. 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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