Mock Turtle Soup of Calf's Head

History

Mock turtle soup is an English soup created in the mid-18th century as an imitation of green turtle soup. Real turtle soup — made from green turtles brought to Britain by sailors returning from the West Indies — was in the 18th century a display of wealth. As the turtles were hunted nearly to extinction and prices climbed, real turtle soup became, in food historian Neil Buttery's words, 'out of the question for all but the super-rich, and so mock turtle soup was invented'. Cooks approximated the original using calf's head and organ meats to reproduce its texture and flavour; calf's head was 'an economical addition with plenty of tastes and textures in itself'. Mary Randolph recorded a version titled 'Mock Turtle Soup of Calf's Head' in The Virginia House-Wife (1824), regarded as the first regional American cookbook. Her recipe simmers a whole calf's head with the hock of a ham or pork, onions, thyme, parsley, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and salt until tender, then finishes the strained broth with half a pint of wine and a gill of mushroom catsup, thickening it with browned flour rubbed into butter.

Ingredients

• 1 large calf's head
• 1 gallon water
• 1 hock of ham or piece of nice pork
• 4-5 onions
• thyme
• parsley
• cloves
• nutmeg
• pepper
• salt
• 0.5 pint wine
• 1 gill mushroom catsup
• 2 spoonsful browned flour
• 4 ounces butter

Instructions

1. Clean the calf's head nicely without removing the skin. Divide the chop from the front of the head and remove the tongue (which is best when salted separately).
2. Place the head in a pot with a gallon of water, the hock of ham or piece of nice pork, four or five onions, thyme, parsley, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Boil all together until the flesh on the head is quite tender.
3. Remove the head from the pot and cut all the flesh into small pieces. Take out the eyes carefully and set aside.
4. Strain the water in which it was boiled. Add half a pint of wine and a gill of mushroom catsup to the strained liquid. Let it boil slowly until reduced to two quarts.
5. Thicken the liquid by rubbing two spoonsful of browned flour into four ounces of butter, then stir this into the soup. Put the meat back in and stew for a short time before serving. The eyes are considered a great delicacy and should be served with the soup.