Sheep's Head.—This is an essentially Scotch dish,
but it is one to which the southerner takes very
kindly. In Scotland the head is sent to the black-
smith and all the hair, etc., singed off it; it is then
laid in hot, or rather warm water and left to soak for
some hours. It must now be scraped till perfectly
clean, then split and the brains removed. Remove
the eyes, scrape and cleanse the nostrils, and again
wash and soak the head in warm salted water. The
sheep's trotters should always accompany the head
and be cleaned in the same way. Now put the
head and the trotters in a pan with two carrots and
a turnip cut up, and water enough to cover them,
bring this to the boil, and then let it cook till the
skin is tender, which it should be in about three
hours. Boil the brains in salted water acidulated
with vinegar or lemon juice, for ten minutes, then
drain and mince them. Now lay the two sides of
the head flat on a hot dish, pour good parsley sauce
over them and garnish with the brains, the trotters,
and the carrot and turnip with which the head was
cooked. When a sheep's head is cooked in this
way in Scotland the liquor is always used for
Sheep's head broth. It should be carefully freed
from fat when cold; then put on with a teacupful
of well washed pearl barley, and left to boil for
half an hour; two carrots and two turnips cut
into dice, two sliced onions and a bunch of
parsley are then put in and the whole cooked
slowly for two hours, seasoning it with salt only.
Sheep's head cooked thus is often made into a
pie. Cook the head and the trotters till the bones
will come away, and cut up the meat neatly. Put
a layer of this meat in a piedish, sprinkle it with
pepper, salt, powdered ginger and mace, then place
on it a layer of sliced bacon and hard-boiled eggs
(oysters may be used with or instead of these),
repeating these layers till the dish is full, when you
cover it with rough puff paste and bake for one and
a half hours.