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Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from calf's head, onions, spices, and meatballs served with lemon, sherry wine, and mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the head

  1. Soak the calf's head for 1 hour in cold water.

  2. Place the head in 5 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil, skimming carefully.

  3. Boil until the tongue and bones are tender, about 4 hours, adding the onions.

  4. Remove the tongue and cheek meat, then return the bones to the soup and strain it.

  5. Let the soup cool and remove the fat.

  6. Cut the cheek and tongue into small squares and finely chop the remaining meat.

Make the soup and meatballs

  1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour, mixing well.

  2. Add the strained soup, mixed spices, and square-cut meat, cooking for 10 minutes.

  3. In a bowl, combine the chopped meat with the raw eggs, pepper, salt, and enough flour to form balls.

  4. Grease a plate, place the balls on it, and bake in a hot oven (400°F/200°C) for 3 minutes to brown.

Serve

  1. In a tureen, layer the sliced lemon, sherry wine, and mushroom ketchup, then add the meatballs.

  2. Just before serving, add a few drops of caramel to the soup and pour it over the lemon and meatballs.

  3. Let it stand for 5 minutes 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. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

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

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Wine + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Calf's head
Provides the meat, gelatin and body that give the soup its rich texture.
Flour
Thickens the butter-based roux and helps bind the meatballs.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and forms the base for the roux.
Raw eggs
Bind the chopped meat so the balls hold their shape while baking.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the finished soup.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savoury depth and umami to the soup.

The step that matters

Forming and baking the meatballs. Too little flour leaves the balls loose and they break apart, while too much makes them dense; the raw eggs set during baking to hold them together.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sherry, wine, pepper, butter, mushroom, ketchup):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sherry, wine, pepper, butter, mushroom, ketchup. 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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