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Soup

Mock Turtle

Mock Turtle is a soup made from calf's head, veal stock, flour, soy sauce, mushroom ketchup, and served with force-meat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and ketchup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Cut the calf's head in half and clean it well.

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

  3. Break the bones of the head and boil them in veal stock to enhance richness.

Make the soup

  1. Brown a little flour to thicken the soup, which should yield about four quarts.

  2. Bring the soup to a boil, skim it carefully, and add the meat.

  3. Let it cook until the meat is tender.

  4. About ten minutes before serving, add salt, soy sauce, and mushroom ketchup.

  5. Serve with force-meat balls.

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. Sauce + ketchuptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + meattop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Mushroom + ketchuptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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 meat and gelatinous body that give the soup its substance and texture.
Veal stock
Forms the liquid base and, with the bones, adds richness and body.
Flour
Browned flour thickens the soup and adds a toasted, nutty depth.
Soy sauce
Adds savory depth and salty umami to the finished soup.
Mushroom ketchup
Contributes concentrated savory, earthy flavor near the end of cooking.

The step that matters

Skimming the soup after it comes to a boil. Proteins and fats rise to the surface as scum; removing them carefully keeps the broth clear and prevents a greasy, cloudy finish.

“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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