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Mock Turtle Soup

A hearty broth made from calf head, veal knuckle, ham, fowl, and vegetables, clarified with egg whites and served with fowl quenelles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Cover the calf's head with cold water and add washing soda in a large pot. Bring to a boil, turning occasionally.

  2. Remove the head, scrape off the hair, wash it well, and place it in cold water.

  3. Once cold, remove the flesh from both sides of the bone, divide the head, and take out the tongue.

  4. Saw the bones into pieces and place them at the bottom of the soup pot, followed by the sides of the head, tongue, knuckle of veal, fowl, and ham.

Make the stock

  1. Add about 8 quarts of cold water and bring slowly to a boil, skimming well.

  2. After boiling for an hour, remove the sides of the head. Boil for another hour, then take out the tongue, skin it, and set aside.

  3. After skimming, add the vegetables and seasonings. Let it simmer slowly for 2 to 3 hours.

  4. Strain the soup and let it cool for at least 12 hours. Remove the fat.

Clarify and finish

  1. Put the stock back on the heat with the whites and shells of eggs (or lean meat and sweet herbs) to clarify. Whisk until it boils, then boil for 5 minutes without whisking. Let it stand for 10 minutes, then strain well.

  2. Cut the tongue and meat from the head into small squares and add them to the soup. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Serve hot with quenelles made from the breast of the fowl. Optionally, add lemon juice, orange juice, and a little Madeira or Sherry.

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. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Turnip + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together770 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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 gelatinous meat and bones that give the soup its body and rich texture.
Knuckle of veal
Adds gelatin and savoury depth to the stock as it simmers.
Lean ham
Contributes salty, savoury flavour to the stock.
Egg whites and shells
Trap cloudy particles as they set, clarifying the stock into a clear soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the finished soup.

The step that matters

Skimming the stock as it first boils. Impurities and coagulated proteins rise to the surface during the first boil; removing them keeps the stock clear and free of off-flavours.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, carrot, turnip, onion, egg, lemon):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, carrot, turnip, onion, egg, lemon. 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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