Good Calf’s Head Soup

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845

Source: Modern cookery for private families
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (30)

Stock

six to seven pounds of the thick part of a shin of beef
a little lean ham, or a slice of hung beef, or of Jewish beef, trimmed free from the smoky edges ↝ Pork, fresh, leg (ham), whole, separable lean only, raw [Pork Products]
five quarts of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
an ounce of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
a large bunch of savoury herbs
one large onion ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
a head of celery ↝ Celery, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
three carrots ↝ Carrots, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
two or three turnips ↝ Turnips, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
two small blades of mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
eight or ten peppercorns
a few white or black peppercorns
eight or ten cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]

Soup Base

half a calf’s head with the skin on ↝ Pork, fresh, carcass, separable lean and fat, raw [Pork Products]
the bones and tongue ↝ Pork, bones [Pork]
the bones and tongue ↝ Tongue [Liver and organ meats]
the beef stock ↝ Soup, stock, beef, home-prepared [Soups, Sauces, and Gravies]

Finishing the Soup

five pints in a large clean saucepan
the head cut into small thick slices or into inch-squares ↝ Pork, fresh, carcass, separable lean and fat, raw [Pork Products]
every morsel of the skin ↝ Potatoes, raw, skin [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
of the tongue also ↝ Tongue [Liver and organ meats]
six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour
a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne ↝ Peppers, raw, NFS [Other vegetables and combinations]
twice as much freshly pounded mace ↝ Spices, mace, ground [Spices and Herbs]
half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup ↝ Mushrooms, raw [Other vegetables and combinations]
sufficient cold broth or water ↝ Soup, broth [Soups, broth-based]
two glasses of sherry
some delicately and well fried forcemeat-balls
A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid ↝ Lemon juice, raw [Fruits and Fruit Juices]
As much salt as may be required ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]

Instructions (28)

Stock Preparation

Stew down the thick part of a shin of beef with lean ham (or hung beef, or Jewish beef trimmed free from smoky edges) in five quarts of water until reduced nearly half.
Add an ounce of salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, one large onion, a head of celery, three carrots, two or three turnips, two small blades of mace, eight or ten cloves, and a few peppercorns when the stock first begins to boil.
Let it boil gently for six to seven hours, ensuring it is not too much reduced.
Strain the stock into a clean pan and set it aside.

Calf's Head Preparation

Take out the bone from half a calf’s head with the skin on (the butcher can do this).
Wash, roll, and bind the boned half-head with tape or twine.
Lay the head, its bones, and tongue into a stewpan.
Cover the whole with the prepared beef stock.
Stew for an hour and a half.
Lift the head into a deep earthen pan and let it cool in the liquor to prevent drying or discoloration of the edges.

Soup Assembly and Cooking

Before the head is quite cold, take it out.
Strain and carefully skim all the fat from the stock.
Heat five pints of the skimmed stock in a large clean saucepan.
Cut the calf's head into small thick slices or inch-squares.
Add the head pieces, all the skin, and the tongue to the hot stock.
If the skin is not perfectly tender, simmer gently until it is.
Mix six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour with a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne and twice as much freshly pounded mace.
Add this mixture to the soup, along with half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup, and sufficient cold broth or water to achieve the consistency of batter.
Boil the soup for eight to ten minutes.
Remove any scum that rises to the surface.
Stir in two glasses of sherry.

Serving

Dish the soup.
Place some delicately and well-fried forcemeat-balls (made according to receipt No. 1, 2, or 3, of Chapter VIII) into the tureen.
A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid can be added at pleasure.
The wine and forcemeat-balls may be omitted, and the other seasonings heightened if desired.
Add salt to the stock when the head first begins to boil in it, as required.
Regulate the proportions of cayenne, mace, and catsup by taste to flavor the soup agreeably.

Broth from Residue

Stew down the fragments of the head, bones, and residue of the beef used for stock with some water and a few fresh vegetables to afford excellent broth.

Original Text

GOOD CALF’S HEAD SOUP. (Not expensive.)

Stew down from six to seven pounds of the thick part of a shin of beef with a little lean ham, or a slice of hung beef, or of Jewish beef, trimmed free from the smoky edges, in five quarts of water until reduced nearly half, with the addition, when it first begins to boil, of an ounce of salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, one large onion, a 28head of celery, three carrots, two or three turnips, two small blades of mace, eight or ten cloves, and a few white or black peppercorns. Let it boil gently that it may not be too much reduced, for six or seven hours, then strain it into a clean pan and set it by for use. Take out the bone from half a calf’s head with the skin on (the butcher will do this if desired), wash, roll, and bind it with a bit of tape or twine, and lay it into a stewpan, with the bones and tongue; cover the whole with the beef stock, and stew it for an hour and a half; then lift it into a deep earthen pan and let it cool in the liquor, as this will prevent the edges from becoming dry or discoloured. Take it out before it is quite cold; strain, and skim all the fat carefully from the stock; and heat five pints in a large clean saucepan, with the head cut into small thick slices or into inch-squares. As quite the whole will not be needed, leave a portion of the fat, but add every morsel of the skin to the soup, and of the tongue also. Should the first of these not be perfectly tender, it must be simmered gently till it is so; then stir into the soup from six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour mixed with a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne, twice as much freshly pounded mace, half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup,[31] and sufficient cold broth or water to render it of the consistence of batter; boil the whole from eight to ten minutes; take off the scum, and throw in two glasses of sherry; dish the soup and put into the tureen some delicately and well fried forcemeat-balls made by the receipt No. 1, 2, or 3, of Chapter VIII. A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid can be added at pleasure. The wine and forcemeat-balls may be omitted, and the other seasonings of the soup a little heightened. As much salt as may be required should be added to the stock when the head first begins to boil in it: the cook must regulate also by the taste the exact proportion of cayenne, mace, and catsup, which will flavour the soup agreeably. The fragments of the head, with the bones and the residue of the beef used for stock, if stewed down together with some water and a few fresh vegetables, will afford some excellent broth, such as would be highly acceptable, especially if well thickened with rice, to many a poor family during the winter months.

31.  Unless very good and pure in flavour, we cannot recommend the addition of this or of any other catsup to soup or gravy.

Stock: shin of beef, 6 to 7 lbs.; water, 5 quarts: stewed down (with vegetables, &c.) till reduced nearly half. Boned half-head with skin on stewed in stock: 1-1/2 hour. Soup: stock, 5 pints; tongue, skin of head, and part of flesh: 15 to 40 minutes, or more if not quite tender. Rice-flour, 6 to 8 oz.; cayenne, quarter-teaspoonful; mace, twice as much; mushroom catsup, 1/2 wineglassful: 10 minutes. Sherry, 2 wineglassesful, forcemeat-balls, 20 to 30.

Notes

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