Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Sheep's Head Boiled with Vegetables.— Clean the head, split it, take out the brains, and soak it in lukewarm water. Tie the halves together with string, put the head into a saucepan, and pour over it as much cold water as will cover it. Bring this to the boil, skim carefully, and let all simmer gently together for an hour. Throw into the liquor two turnips, two carrots, two onions, two parsnips, a small bunch of parsley, and a little pepper and salt. Mix four ounces of oatmeal smoothly with a little of the liquor, stir it into the rest, let it boil, then cover the saucepan closely, and simmer all gently together until done enough. Take up the head, and remove the tongue, which should be served with the brains on a separate dish [see Sheep's Brains and Tongue). Put the head on a dish, place the vegetables round it, and serve hot. The broth may be used for soup. Time, about two hours and a half. Probable cost, sheep's head. Is. 2d. to Is. 6d. each. Sufficient for two or three persons. Sheep's Head Broth (a Scottish recipe). — Take a large fat young head and a " gang " of trotters, all carefully singed. Wash and scrape them well, and let them soak in cold water for an hour or two. Take out the eyes, split the head into halves, and remove the brains. Shorten the jaw-bones where there is no flesh, and cut out the gristle inside the nose. Prepare the trotters for dressing [see Sheep's Trotters) , wash and brush both head and feet once more, and leave them in water till wanted. Put the two halves of the head together, and tie a string round it to keep the brains and the tongue in their proper places. Lay it in a saucepan with a pound or two of the scrag end of a neck of mutton, a large cupful of barley, and about half a pint of dried peas -which have been soaked in cold water. Pour over all a gallon of water, and add a little salt ; boil the contents of the stewpan very gently, and carefully remove the scum as it rises. When the head has boiled an hour, put in the trotters, and at the end of two hours add two carrots, two turnips, and two onions, all sliced together, with a few sticks of celery, if liked. Boil the head three hours or three hours and a half longer, and remember that the more slowly it is boiled the better will be broth, head, and soup. Serve the head on a dish with the trotters round it, and garnish with boiled carrots and turnips. Serve the soup in a tureen. Sometimes the brains are not put inside the head, but are thrown into the broth when it is boiling, simmered for a quarter of an hour, and then served on a separate dish, with brown sauce poured over them. If the sheep's tongues are not wanted immediately, let them cool in the broth. When they are to be served, -warm them up in the same, cut them in halves without separating them, and lay them open on a dish. Send piquante sauce to table with them. Time, five to six hours to simmer the sheep's head. Probable cost, from Is. 2d. to Is. 6d. each. Sufficient, one head for two or three persons.