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Turtle Soup, with Dried Turtle

A hearty soup made from dried turtle, ham, beef, veal, vegetables, herbs, spices, and egg whites, simmered for many hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Turtle Soup, with Dried Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turtle

  1. Soak the turtle in warm water for two days, changing the water four times.

  2. Simmer the soaked turtle in a saucepan for one day.

Make the stock

  1. In a stock pot, combine the ham, shin of beef (cut into pieces), veal, soaked turtle, and water; bring to a boil.

  2. Skim the surface as it boils, then add vegetables, herbs, and spices.

  3. Boil gently for eight hours, then strain through a fine sieve.

  4. Cut the turtle into square pieces and set aside.

  5. Remove fat from the cooled soup and place it in a saucepan.

Clarify and finish

  1. Beat the egg whites and shells with a little cold water, add to the soup, and stir until it boils.

  2. Simmer for 30 minutes until clear, then remove scum and strain through a napkin.

  3. Reheat the soup, adding lemon juice, turtle pieces, and season to taste.

  4. Optionally, add Madeira and caramel if the soup is not dark enough.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites and shells bind impurities so they can be removed, leaving the soup clear.
Shin of beef
Collagen-rich meat breaks down during long simmering, giving the soup body and richness.
Knuckle veal
Gelatin-rich bones and meat add body and a silky texture to the stock.
Lean ham
Contributes savory, salty flavor to the stock.
Madeira
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor when used to deepen the soup's color.

The step that matters

Clarifying with egg whites. Stir the egg white mixture gently as it heats so it forms a raft that traps particles; stirring too hard breaks the raft and leaves the soup cloudy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, beef, veal, clove, pepper, egg, celery):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, beef, veal, clove, pepper, egg, celery. 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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