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Mock Turtle

A stew made from calf's head, mushrooms, and curry, finished with lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,633 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Clean and soak the calf's head in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Place the head in a stewpan and cover with cold water and ½ gallon more.

Make the soup

  1. Bring to a gentle boil.

  2. Skim off any scum for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the head, let it cool, and cut into pieces.

  4. Mix the broth with 2 teaspoons of curry powder.

  5. Simmer for 2 minutes.

  6. Add the meat pieces and mushrooms.

  7. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with lemon juice squeezed into the dish.

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. Lemon + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head with skin
Skin and bone release gelatin, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Button mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy savoury flavour as they simmer in the broth.
Curry powder
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the broth.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich broth just before serving.

The step that matters

Skim off any scum for 1 hour. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities rising from the simmering head. Removing it keeps the broth clear and stops off flavours from spoiling the soup.

“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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