Name: Mock Turtle Soup
Yield: Serves 8–10
Ingredients: 2 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 small lemon); salt and white pepper, to taste; 1 lemon thyme sprig; 1 basil sprig; 1 marjoram sprig; 2¼ litres/4 pt/2⅓ quarts beef or veal stock; 170 g/6 oz/1⅓ cups flour; 550 ml/18½ fl oz/2⅓ cups Madeira; 30 g/1 oz/⅔ cup parsley stalk, chopped; 1 large onion, chopped; 115 g/4 oz/1¼ cups button mushrooms, chopped; 1 celery stick, chopped; 340 g/12 oz/1½ cups butter; 2 kg/4 lb 8 oz veal and beef, diced; 1 boned calf’s head, including tongue; 570 ml/1 pt/2⅓ cups veal or chicken stock; 2¼ litres/4 pt/2⅓ quarts strong beef stock or consommé; 2 bay leaves and 1 thyme sprig (or a prepared bouquet garni); ½ tsp cayenne pepper

Preparation info

Serves
8–10

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

How to Cook The Victorian Way with Mrs Crocombe

By Annie Gray and Andrew Hann

Published 2020

About

Turtle soup was one of the most prestigious dishes of the 18th century. It required live turtles, imported from the West Indies, and was often served in the shell or in lavish silver turtle-shaped tureens. By the early 19th century mock turtle soup, using a calf’s head instead of a turtle, had developed as a cheaper and more readily available alternative. It caught on rapidly, and became one of the most quintessentially British dishes of the Victorian era, often elevated to