Skip to main content
Main

Mock-turtle Soup, Clear

A clear soup made from calf's head, veal, ham, vegetables, herbs, and stock, clarified with egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Basil and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 688 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Mock-turtle Soup, Clear

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Bone and parboil the calf's head in water with salt for 20 minutes.

  2. Cool the head in cold water, then trim away rough parts.

Make the stock

  1. Place the head in a large pot with veal, ham, carrots, onions, celery, herbs, and mace.

  2. Add stock and boil until reduced to a glaze, being careful not to burn it.

  3. Fill the pot with stock or water, skim, and keep boiling gently until the head is nearly done.

  4. Remove the head, wash in cold water, drain, and press between two dishes to cool.

  5. Strain the stock into a clean pot, remove grease, and clarify with whipped egg whites and cold water.

  6. Heat the stock, whisk until boiling, then simmer gently for 20 minutes until bright.

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. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Celery + marjoramtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together615 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Provides gelatinous body and rich flavour to the finished soup.
Veal knuckle
Adds gelatin and depth to the stock as it simmers.
Raw ham
Contributes savory, salty flavour to the stock.
Egg whites (in the method)
Clarify the stock by collecting particles that cloud it.

The step that matters

Reducing the stock to a glaze. Boiling down the stock concentrates flavour and gelatin, but it scorches easily on the bottom of the pot, which gives a bitter, burnt taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, clove, celery, basil, marjoram):

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, clove, celery, basil, marjoram. 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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesVeal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipes