No Spam Recipes

Mock Turtle Soup

A dish where calf’s head and peppercorns do the work.

Soups With Meat Stock

contains glutencontains dairycontains meatcontains alcohol

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Ingredients

Units: US Metric
Scale: ½× – 4× with Plus →
  • 1 calf’s head
  • 6 cloves
  • 2 ml peppercorns
  • 6 allspice berries
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 80 ml sliced onion
  • 80 ml carrot (cut in dice)
  • 470 ml brown stock
  • 60 ml butter
  • 120 ml flour
  • 240 ml stewed and strained tomatoes
  • Juice ½ lemon
  • Madeira wine
Make it lactose-friendly
  • ¼ cup butter → plant butter, ghee (mostly lactose-free), or olive oil

Swaps are suggestions, not medical advice. Check labels if lactose is a serious issue for you.

Steps

  1. Clean and wash the calf's head, then soak it in cold water to cover for one hour.
  2. Cook the head in three quarts of boiling salted water, with the cloves, peppercorns, allspice berries, thyme, onion, and carrot added, until tender.
  3. Remove the head. Boil the stock until reduced to one quart, then strain and cool it.
  4. Melt the butter in a pan and brown it. Add the flour and stir until well browned.
  5. Slowly pour in the brown stock.
  6. Add the reduced head stock, the stewed and strained tomatoes, one cup of face meat cut in dice, and the lemon juice.
  7. Simmer for five minutes.
  8. Add the Royal custard cut in dice, and the Egg Balls or Force-meat Balls.
  9. Add the Madeira wine, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Steps last refined 2026-11-12 — we sharpen our recipes every week, so check back.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)
Calories352
Protein4.7 g
Fat23.6 g
Carbs31.9 g
Fiber3.0 g
Sodium23 mg

Source

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (Fannie Farmer, pub. domain) — Public domain in the United States