Skip to main content
Soup

Clear Turtle Soup

A clear soup made from sun‑dried turtle, stock, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Clear Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the turtle

  1. Soak the sun-dried turtle in cold water for three days, changing the water daily.

Simmer the soup

  1. Boil the turtle in good stock with vegetables for 10 to 12 hours.

  2. For each quart of stock, add 1 stalk celery, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 leek, 2 bay leaves, and 2 onions.

  3. Add more stock as it reduces by boiling.

Strain and clarify

  1. Once cooked, strain off the stock.

  2. Remove any fat and clarify the stock.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sun-dried turtle
Forms the main meat; long soaking rehydrates it and long simmering makes it tender.
Good stock
Serves as the liquid base that carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Onions
Release sweetness and savoury depth as they simmer slowly in the stock.
Celery
Adds aromatic background flavour as it softens during the long simmer.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and body to the stock as it cooks down.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle aroma that infuses the stock during long boiling.

The step that matters

Add more stock as it reduces by boiling. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates flavour, so the liquid must keep covering the meat. Topping up keeps the turtle cooking evenly and stops the stock from scorching or becoming overly salty and intense.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, carrot, turnip, leek, marjoram, thyme, parsley):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, carrot, turnip, leek, marjoram, thyme, parsley. 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.

More turtle soup recipes

Mock 441Green 33Clear 6 See all 139 →

You might also like

Cream of CeleryCream of Celery37 recipesIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and SpinachIndian Spiced Potato Soup with Tofu and Spinach448 recipesClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd SoupClear Carrot and Bottle Gourd Soup65 recipesMock Bisque SoupMock Bisque Soup51 recipes