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Mock Turtle

A hearty soup made from calf's head, veal fillet, beef shin, celery, herbs, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Veal and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Place the calf's head in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a little salt.

  2. Bring to a gentle boil, skimming continually.

  3. Simmer for 3 hours.

Make the soup

  1. Remove the head, discard the bones, and return the bones to the liquid.

  2. Add the fillet of veal, shin of beef, celery, mixed herbs, and bay leaves.

  3. Stew for 3 hours.

  4. Strain the liquid.

Finish and serve

  1. Cut the gelatinous meat into neat slices and add to the soup with sherry.

  2. If needed, thicken with cornflour half an hour before serving.

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. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Celery + sherrytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,336 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + sherrytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together871 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Breaks down into gelatin during simmering, giving the soup its body and richness.
Shin of beef
Collagen converts to gelatin during long stewing, enriching the broth's texture and flavour.
Fillet of veal
Lends tender meat flavour to the stewed liquid.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, savoury flavour to the broth.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the finished soup.
Cornflour
Starch swells when heated, thickening the liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming continually during the gentle boil. Coagulated proteins and fat rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them as they form keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting. Skimming only occasionally lets them re-dissolve and cloud the stock.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, sherry):

  1. Pepperfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, sherry. 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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