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Turtle Soup

A hearty soup made from turtle meat, stock, wine, herbs, and spices, simmered until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 24 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram 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. Hang the turtle by the hind fins, cut off the head, and allow it to drain.

  2. Remove the fore fins and separate the upper shell (callipash) from the under shell (callipee).

  3. Cut off the fat from the callipash and callipee, then cut the hind fins off.

  4. Remove the lean meat from the callipee and fins, cut into 2‑inch pieces, and place in a stewpan.

  5. Scald the callipash, callipee, and fins in hot water for a few minutes to separate the shell easily.

Make the stock

  1. Cut the callipash and callipee into 6‑inch pieces and place in a stock pot with light veal stock.

  2. Boil until the meat is tender, then remove and place in cold water to cool.

  3. Free the meat from the bones and cut into 1‑inch pieces.

  4. Return the bones to the stock and boil gently for 2 hours, then strain.

  5. Cut the fins into 1‑inch wide pieces and boil in stock with onion, cloves, parsley, thyme, basil, and marjoram until tender.

  6. Remove the fins and add the stock to the main stock.

Season and finish

  1. In a stewpan, combine the lean meat, Madeira, shallots, lemon slices, thyme, marjoram, savory, sweet basil, and parsley.

  2. Pound together nutmeg, allspice, mace, cloves, pepper, and salt.

  3. Mix the spices with the lean meat, add butter and stock, and gently stew until the meat is cooked.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 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

Turtle
Provides the main meat and gelatinous shell pieces that give the soup its body and richness.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, rounding the flavour and giving the soup a silkier mouthfeel.
Madeira wine
Adds sweetness and depth, and its acidity balances the rich meat and stock.
Lemons
Contribute bright acidity that cuts through the richness of the meat and fat.
Veal stock
Adds savoury body and moisture, forming the liquid base the meat simmers in.

The step that matters

Stewing the seasoned lean meat with stock and butter. Gentle stewing keeps the meat tender and lets the spices and wine blend into the liquid; boiling hard toughens the meat and can make the butter separate and the soup greasy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, clove, parsley, thyme, basil, marjoram, madeira wine. 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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