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Soup

Old-fashioned Mock Turtle

A hearty soup made from boiled head, beef neck, ham, vegetables, herbs, lemon rind, spices, stock, thickened with butter and flour, finished with sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot 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 ↓

Old-fashioned Mock Turtle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head and stock

  1. Remove the brain from the head and wash it well.

  2. Soak the head.

  3. Pour 9 quarts of cold water into the pot.

  4. Bring the water to a gentle boil. Skim the surface clean.

  5. Boil for 1.5 hours.

  6. Remove the head from the pot.

  7. Add 8 pounds of lightly browned neck of beef, then ham, onions, celery, carrots, sweet herbs, lemon rind, peppercorns and salt.

  8. Stew gently for 7-8 hours.

  9. Strain the stock.

  10. Cool the stock to remove fat.

Make the soup

  1. Remove skin and fat from the head.

  2. Cut the head into strips.

  3. Cut the tongue into strips or dice.

  4. Combine 4-5 quarts of stock in a large pot and bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Thicken the stock with a mixture of 4 ounces butter and 4 ounces flour.

  6. Add mace and cayenne.

  7. Stir in ½ pint of sherry.

  8. Simmer for 1.25 to 1.5 hours, stirring often to remove scum.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of beef
Gives the stock its rich, meaty body as it stews for hours.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a fuller, silkier soup when cooked with butter.
Butter
Forms a roux with the flour and adds richness to the soup.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to finish the soup.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth to the stock.

The step that matters

Skim and stir during the final simmer. Scum rising from the stock can cloud the soup and taste bitter. Skimming and stirring often keep the soup clear and clean-flavoured while the sherry and thickener cook in.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, ham, onion, celery, carrot, flour. 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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