Mock-Turtle Soup

Ingredients

• half a head of pig's head
• some stock made from bones
• a couple of bay-leaves
• flour
• butter
• a large claret-glass of sherry

Method

1. 1

   Scald the pig's head thoroughly, then boil it gently in stock.

2. 2

   After about an hour, remove it, let it cool, and cut the meat into pieces.

3. 3

   Boil the bones in the stock, adding bay leaves.

4. 4

   Thicken the stock with flour fried in butter, boil gently, and skim off fat.

5. 5

   Let the soup cool overnight to remove more fat, then add the meat back and sherry before serving.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Common-sense papers on cookery (1880) by A. G. Payne, page 13. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

mock-turtle soup out of pig’s head, instead of calf’s head. Now, calves’ heads vary immensely in price ; when half a head can be got for 2s. 6d. or 3s., it is a fairly economical dish ; but when calves’ heads, as happens sometimes about Christmas, owing to the extraordinary demand for them, run up to a guinea each, of course the dish would be extravagant to a degree. I don’t know what the price of pigs’ heads is in the country, but in London they can generally be bought for 6d. a pound. To make mock-turtle soup from, say half a head, first scald it thoroughly, then put it on to boil gently in some stock made from bones. The drawback to the soup is that it has a tendency to taste greasy, consequently the point to be always borne in mind is to thoroughly get rid of the fat. After the pig’s head has boiled for about an hour and a hall", take 40 Common-sense Cookery. it out, let it get partially cold, then cut the meat off the head exactly in the same shape as the pieces of calf's head in good mock-turtle soup ; let each piece be about an inch and a half or two inches square. These should be allowed to get cold between two large dishes, the bottom one being placed upside-down, as in cooling they have a tendency to curl, and they look far better flat. Put all the bones of the head back into the stock, and let them boil as long as you like. I would mention, in passing, that a couple of bay-leaves in the stock are a great improvement. Next thicken the stock with brown thickening, which is, as I have before described, simply flour fried brown in butter. Let the whole boil very gently, and keep skimming it carefully. It is surprising what a lot of fat there will be on it. This soup should always be made the day before it is wanted, in order to let it get cold ; the fat can then be taken off, but I would warn cooks against supposing that because soup has got cold all the fat will necessarily float to the top, as this is not the case. A great deal of fat is what may be termed held in solution in the soup, and is only thrown up by boiling. When therefore all the fat has been got rid of, the pieces of meat can be replaced in the soup, and some sherry added — golden sherry, or, still better, madeira — and recollect that this latter wine is fairly cheap again now ; as, therefore, you have saved money Little Extravagancies. 41 over the pig’s head instead of the calf’s head, you can afford to be a little more generous with the wine. It is wonderful what a difference this latter makes in the flavour ; only just taste it for yourself before and after. Soup like this will bear a large claret-glass of sherry

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.