Boiled Calf’s Head

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 (15)

For the calf's head

calf’s head ↝ Pork, fresh, carcass, separable lean and fat, raw [Pork Products]
salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]

For the brains

brains ↝ Brains [Liver and organ meats]
eight or ten size leaves boiled tender and finely minced ↝ Fireweed, leaves, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
211boiled parsley ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
melted butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
white sauce ↝ Sauce, homemade, white, medium [Soups, Sauces, and Gravies]

For serving

tongue ↝ Tongue [Liver and organ meats]
parsley and butter ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
fried crumbs
A cheek of bacon
very delicate pickled pork ↝ Pork, pickled pork hocks [Pork Products]

Sauce variations

tomata sauce ↝ Tomato chili sauce [Tomato-based condiments]
rich oyster sauce ↝ Oyster sauce [Soy-based condiments]
Dutch sauce

Instructions (18)

If the head is dressed with the skin on, cut off the ear close to the head. This will require an additional three-quarters of an hour or upwards of boiling and should be served covered with fried crumbs.
The more usual mode is to boil the head without the skin.
In either case, first remove the brain.
Wash the head delicately clean and soak it for a quarter of an hour.
Cover the head plentifully with cold water.
Remove the scum as it rises with great care.
Throw in a little salt.
Boil the head gently until it is perfectly tender.
Wash and soak the brains first in cold and then in warm water.
Remove the skin or film from the brains.
Boil the brains in a small saucepan from fourteen to sixteen minutes, according to their size.
When the brains are done, chop them.
Mix the chopped brains with eight or ten sage leaves boiled tender and finely minced, or with boiled parsley instead.
Warm the brain mixture in a spoonful or two of melted butter or white sauce.
Skin the tongue and trim off the root.
Serve the tongue in a small dish with the brains around it.
Send the head to table very hot with parsley and butter poured over it, and some more parsley and butter in a tureen.
Serve with a cheek of bacon or very delicate pickled pork as an accompaniment.

Original Text

BOILED CALF’S HEAD.

When the head is dressed with the skin on, which many persons prefer, the ear must be cut off quite close to it; it will require three quarters of an hour or upwards of additional boiling, and should be served covered with fried crumbs: the more usual mode, however, is to boil it without the skin. In either case first remove the brain, wash the head delicately clean, and soak it for a quarter of an hour; cover it plentifully with cold water, remove the scum as it rises with great care, throw in a little salt, and boil the head gently until it is perfectly tender. In the mean time, wash and soak the brains first in cold and then in warm water, remove the skin or film, boil them in a small saucepan from fourteen to sixteen minutes, according to their sage, and when they are done, chop and mix them with eight or ten size leaves boiled tender and finely minced; or, if preferred, with 211boiled parsley instead; warm them in a spoonful or two of melted butter, or white sauce; skin the tongue, trim off the root, and serve it in a small dish with the brains round it. Send the head to table very hot with parsley and butter poured over it, and some more in a tureen. A cheek of bacon, or very delicate pickled pork, is the usual accompaniment to boiled calf’s head.

We have given here the common English mode of serving this dish, by some persons considered the best, and by others, as exceedingly insipid. On the continent, tomata sauce takes place of the parsley and butter; and rich oyster or Dutch sauce, are varieties often substituted for it in this country.

With the skin on, from 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 hours; without the skin, from 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

Notes

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