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Mock Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made by stewing beef and veal with vegetables, herbs, and a calf head, then simmering for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Gently stew 4 pounds of beef shin or neck in 1 gallon of water with carrots, onion, celery, herbs, mace, peppercorns, and salt until the meat falls apart.

  2. Strain the broth.

  3. Pour the strained broth over 3 pounds of veal knuckle or neck in a pot.

  4. Simmer the veal until the meat falls from the bones, being careful not to reduce the stock too much.

  5. Strain the soup into a clean pan.

  6. Let the soup cool.

  7. Skim off the fat.

Prepare the head

  1. Remove the skin and bones from the half calf's head.

  2. Keep the tongue inside or remove it as preferred.

  3. Roll the head lightly.

  4. Secure the head with tape or twine.

  5. Place the head in a deep pan or tureen.

Simmer and serve

  1. Pour the soup over the head.

  2. Bring the soup to a gentle boil.

  3. Skim the soup regularly.

  4. Simmer for 1 to 1¼ hours.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin or neck
Its collagen breaks down during slow stewing, giving the broth body and a rich, full flavour.
Veal knuckle or neck
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin into the stock, adding body and a silky mouthfeel.
Calf's head
Provides gelatinous meat and skin that set firmly as the soup cools, giving the dish its main texture.
Carrots
Release sweetness and aromatic flavour into the stock as they simmer.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma to the broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Do not over-reduce the veal stock. Boiling the stock hard concentrates salt and can make it cloudy and greasy. A gentle simmer keeps it clear and lets the gelatin extract slowly, so the finished soup sets with good body.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, celery, veal. 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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