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Soup

Mock Turtle

A rich soup made from calf's head, broth, wine, herbs, and mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,351 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head and broth

  1. Wash and clean the calf’s head well, then half‑boil it and cut the meat into square pieces.

  2. Break the bones of the head and stew them in veal and beef broth to enhance richness.

Make the soup

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

  2. Stir the mixture into the broth from the stewed bones and bring to a boil.

  3. Skim the broth, remove the bones, and add the square pieces of meat.

  4. Pour in the port wine or Madeira and simmer until the meat is tender.

  5. Ten minutes before serving, add a bundle of chives, parsley, basil, tarragon, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste.

  6. Stir in the mushroom ketchup and soy sauce.

  7. 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. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chive + basiltop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Flour + chivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Beef + chivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together304 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 meat and gelatin that give the soup its body and richness.
Butter
Carries the shallots' flavor and, with flour, forms the base that thickens the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a smooth, body-rich gravy.
Port wine or madeira
Adds depth and a subtle sweetness as the soup simmers.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavor to the finished soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich broth.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with butter and flour. Flour must be cooked in the fat before liquid is added, or it stays raw-tasting and forms lumps. Cooking it briefly removes the raw flavor and lets it thicken evenly.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, butter, flour, port wine, chive, parsley):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, butter, flour, port wine, chive, parsley. 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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