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Soup

Mock Turtle Soup

A soup made from calf's head, simmered with onion and spice, finished with sherry and butter, and garnished with lemon and small browned meatballs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mock Turtle Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the head

  1. Soak the calf's head in cold water, then wipe it clean.

  2. Place the head in a pot with 3 quarts of water and bring to a boil, skimming carefully.

  3. Add the onion, mixed spice, salt, and pepper, then simmer slowly for 2 to 3 hours.

  4. Remove the tongue and meat from the cheek, dice it, and set aside.

  5. Return the bones to the pot and boil for an additional 4 hours.

  6. Strain the broth and collect the pieces of meat, chopping them finely.

Make the meatballs

  1. Mix the chopped meat with a little potato flour and egg, roll into balls, and brown in the oven at 400°F (200°C).

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, gradually stir in the stock, and add the diced meat.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes and serve with thin slices of lemon and the meatballs as garnish.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together968 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

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 bones that give the soup its body and rich flavour.
Potato flour
Thickens the soup and binds the meatballs together.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the soup, rounding out its flavour.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich broth.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savoury, umami depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the head while it comes to a boil. Impurities and scum rise to the surface as the head heats. Removing them early keeps the broth clear and free of off flavours, so skimming carefully matters.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits about as well
  2. Applefits about as well
  3. Grapefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, flour, butter, onion, sherry, 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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