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Turtle Soup

A soup made from turtle meat, fins, shell pieces, veal broth, herbs, spices, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 27 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turtle

  1. Remove the lean meat from the bone.

  2. Scald the fins whole.

  3. Cut the callipee and callipash into pieces. Scald the pieces.

  4. Cut the fins into 3-inch pieces. Wash the fins.

  5. Place the fins in a pot with enough water to cover.

  6. Boil the fins and callipash pieces with the bones until nearly done.

  7. Pick the meat free from bones.

  8. Place the meat in another pot.

Make the soup base

  1. Strain the cooking liquid.

  2. Reduce the liquid by boiling until it is two-thirds of the original volume.

  3. Add a good quantity of strong veal broth.

  4. Add the chopped herbs, onions, shallots, and garlic.

  5. Add the pounded spices.

  6. Boil everything together for 1 hour.

Cook the meat and finish

  1. Cut the lean meat into 2-ounce pieces.

  2. Strain some of the liquid over the meat.

  3. Boil the meat until three-quarters done.

  4. Combine the meat with the fins and callipash in the pot.

  5. Strain the remaining liquid.

  6. Thicken the liquid with a mixture of flour and butter, ensuring it is not too thick.

  7. Season with Cayenne pepper and coarse sea salt.

  8. Add the boiling Sherry wine.

  9. Strain the mixture into the turtle soup.

  10. Add scalded egg and forcemeat balls.

  11. If there is any green fat, boil it until tender. Cut the green fat into pieces. Add the green fat pieces to the soup.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean meat from turtle
Forms the main body of the soup and gives it its meaty texture.
Callipee (turtle fat)
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the soup.
Strong veal broth
Provides savoury depth and body to the soup base.
Flour
Thickens the liquid together with butter so the soup becomes body-rich.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and combines with flour to thicken the soup.
12 onions, chopped
Adds sweetness and aromatic flavour as they cook down into the base.

The step that matters

Thickening the liquid with flour and butter. Flour must be cooked with butter and added gradually. Too much at once or too thick a mixture leaves lumps or a pasty texture, and the starch needs to be fully cooked to lose its raw taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, veal, marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, veal, marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, shallot. 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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