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Mock Turtle

A rich soup made from calf's head, broth, Madeira wine, herbs, and optional forcemeat balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head and broth

  1. Clean the calf's head and cut it in half.

  2. Half-boil the head, then remove the meat in square bits.

  3. Break the bones and boil them in veal and beef broth for richness.

Make the gravy

  1. Fry shallots in butter, then add flour to thicken the gravy.

  2. Stir the gravy into the broth and boil for 1-2 minutes.

Simmer and serve

  1. Carefully skin the broth, then add the head and Madeira wine.

  2. Simmer until the meat is tender.

  3. Ten minutes before serving, add basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, Cayenne pepper, salt, mushroom ketchup, and soy sauce.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice into the tureen and pour the soup over it.

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. Tarragon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Basil + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together326 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Basil + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Supplies the meat and gelatin that give the soup its body and silky texture.
Butter
Fat that carries the shallot flavour and starts the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it coats the meat and broth.
Madeira wine
Adds depth, sweetness and aroma to the simmering soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich broth.

The step that matters

Stir the gravy into the broth and boil for 1-2 minutes. Flour must be fully cooked to thicken smoothly and lose its raw, pasty taste. Stirring as it joins the broth prevents lumps from forming.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, madeira wine, tarragon, chive, parsley, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, madeira wine, tarragon, chive, parsley, pepper. 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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