Sheep’s Head au Gratin

Ingredients

• the head
• a faggot of herbs
• an onion
• a carrot
• one or two each of cloves, all-spice, and peppercorns
• salt and pepper
• bread-crumbs
• pieces of butter

Method

1. 1

   Blanch head, simmer in water with herbs and vegetables for two hours.

2. 2

   Remove bones, skin tongue, place head in baking tin, sprinkle with seasoning, cover with bread-crumbs, pour broth, bake until brown.

3. 3

   Prepare brains, fry, and serve with sauce.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Tempting dishes for small incomes (1891) by Harriet Anne de Salis, page 14. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Sheep’s Head au Gratin. Remove the brains and put the head in water, having blanched it previously ; bring it slowly to the boil, throw away the water, and again cover the head with fresh water ; then add a faggot of herbs, TEMPTING DISHES. an onion, carrot, celery, one or two each of cloves, all- spice, and peppercorns, and any trimmings of bacon, and let it simmer very gently for two hours, when it should be done enough for the bones to slip out easily, take it up, remove the bones, and skin the tongue. Place the head on a greased baking-tin with the tongue upright in the centre ; sprinkle with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and a very little scraped onion and shalot ; cover thickly with bread-crumbs, putting pieces of butter here and there, pour very little of the broth round, and bake till the crumbs are quite brown. Meanwhile, wash and skin the brains, boil them quickly in a little broth, drain and cut each piece in two, flour them, egg and crumb, and fry in hot fat. Make a sauce by slicing an onion into a stewpan with a piece of butter ; fry till brown ; mix in a spoonful of flour, add a cupful of the broth and one of brown gravy ; stir till it boils, add a tablespoonful of sharp sauce, strain, and mix in a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, pour round the head and garnish with fried brains. Tomato Curry. Bake some large tomatoes and pass them through a sieve ; add a tablespoonful of finely minced onions, a pinch of garlic, and some good curry powder ; add enough stock or water to moisten the whole. As the water or stock reduces, add more til] the whole is ivell cooked, when remove and serve very hot. It is not necessary to serve rice with it. Tongue Pie. Take equal parts of cold tongue and cold poultry. Line an earthenware baking-dish with good pie- 30 TEMPTING DISHES. crust, put the two meats into it in layers, seasoning each layer lightly with salt and pepper

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