Calf's Head, Boiled

Ingredients

• a calf's head
• a table-spoonful of vinegar
• a cupful of good melted butter
• the juice of half a lemon
• a table-spoonful of sage leaves
• the same of scalded and finely-minced parsley

Method

1. 1

   Clean the calf's head, blanch in boiling water, then simmer gently until tender.

2. 2

   Prepare the brains separately, boil with vinegar, and mix with melted butter, sage, parsley, salt, and pepper.

3. 3

   Serve with the tongue in the middle of the dish and brain sauce around it.

Nutrition per serving

Estimated from matched ingredients across 6 servings.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 296. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Calf's Head, Boiled) till it is sufficiently tender to allow the bones to be taken away without altering the shape of the head. Do not take away the tongue, as it will help to preserve the fonn. Take a large stewpan, melt three ounces of butter in it, and when it is broMoi, mix smoothly with it two table-spoonfuls of rice floui'. Add just enough of the liquor in which the head was boiled to cover the meat, but before putting the head in, season the sauce with salt, cayenne, nutmeg, foiir large tomatoes stewed, and two glasses of sherry. Let it boil up, then put in the calf's head, and when this is hot it is ready to serve. Jfow comes the arrangement of the dish, and for this no clear directions can be given ; it must be left to the taste of the cook, and depend greatly on the materials at command. The brain cakes, of course, must be used, and they may be heated in the sauce, as also may button mushrooms, forcemeat balls, the yolks of eggs boiled hard, sliced truffles, cock's-combs, real or artificial. On and aboiit the head may be placed fried eggs, crayfish, prawns, gherkins, cut into baUs and soaked in cold water a little before they are wanted. The ears may be scored and curled, and little stars or diamonds of puff paste fried in butter may be dotted about the dish. The truffles, prawns, &c., may be fastened on with silver skewers. It is generally found better to boil and bone this dish the day before it is wanted. Time to stew in the gravy, three-quarters of an hour. Sufficient for ton or twelve i^ersons. Calf's Head (a la Tortue), another way.— The remains of a cold calf's head may be cut into small squares, warmed in a little good gravy, and ornamented in the same way as the last dish. Make the sauce rather thick, put the meat in the middle of the dish, and garnish as prettily as possible with forcemeat balls, the yolks of hard boiled eggs, and the whites cut into rings, gherkins, olives, and stewed mushrooms. Time to simmer the meat in the gravy, a quarter of an hour. Calfs Head, Baked.— Take half a calf's head. Prepare it as if for boiling, removing the brains and tongue. Let it simmer gently for half an hour, then take it out of the water, drain it, and fold it in a cloth to dry. Prepare abreakfast-cupful of finely-grated bread-crumbs, mix -wath them two salt-spoonfuls of salt, half a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper, two dessert- spoonfuls of finely-shred sage, and the same of parsley. Brush the head over with beaten e^^, and strew the bread-crumbs, &c., over it ; let it get dry, then repeat, the second time pouring hot butter over instead of brushing with Q^^. Fill the hollows of the eyes with crumbs. Bake the head in a good oven, basting it frequently with a cupful of sauce mixed -with a dessert- spoonful of vinegar. The tongue and brains must be boiled separately, and cut into pieces, and a little time before the head is sufficiently baked, must be strewed with the crumbs and put into the oven to brown. Serve in a hot dish, with a little gravy round the meat, and oyster sauce in a tureen. Time to bake, two hours. Sufficient, half a head for four persons. Calf's Head, Baked (another way).— Boil half a calf's head in the usual way until tender ; then drain it, pour a little hot butter over it, and strew over it rather thickly some grated Parmesan cheese, and put it in a good oven until it is nicely browned, which will be in about three-quarters of an hour. Sufficient for four persons. Calf's Head, Boiled (with or ■v\-ithout the Skin). — Thoroughly cleanse a calf's head, remove the brains, and put it into boiling water for ten minutes, to blanch it. Take it out, and lay it in a deep saucepan with sufficient water to cover it ; let it boil up, remove the scum veiy carefully as it rises, draw the pan to the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently until ready. Wash the brains in two or three waters, remove the skin and the fibres which hang about them, and let them soak for an hour in cold salt and water ; pour that away, and put them into a saucepan with some fresh water to which a table-spoonful of vinegar has been added. Take the scum off as it rises, and boil them for a quai-ter of an hour. Chop them rather coarsely, and put them into a saucepan -svith a cupful of good melted butter, a table-spoonful of sage leaves chopped small, the same of scalded and finely-miaced parsley, a little salt and pepper, and the juice of half a lemon

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