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Calf's Head to Hash

Hash of boiled calf head and tongue simmered in a seasoned gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Calf's Head to Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gravy

  1. Cut the boiled calf's head and tongue into pieces.

  2. In a pot, combine the boiling liquor, mutton shanks or veal bones, sweet herbs, onions, lemon peel, and white pepper.

  3. Simmer slowly until well-flavored, then thicken with butter and flour.

  4. Strain the gravy into a clean saucepan.

  5. Add pounded mace and oyster catsup or lemon pickle.

Serve

  1. Warm the meat slices in the gravy.

  2. Garnish with forcemeat balls and curled bacon slices.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Mutton + oystertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Forms the main body of the hash, supplying meat and natural gelatin to the gravy.
Calf's tongue
Adds tender, richly flavored meat that holds its texture when warmed again.
Butter
Enriches the gravy and gives fat for richness and smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the simmered liquor into a gravy with body.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and savory depth to the simmered gravy.
Bacon
Adds smoky, salty fat and browned flavor as a garnish.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly until well-flavored, then thicken with butter and flour. A gentle simmer lets the bones and herbs release flavor without clouding the liquor. Adding the butter and flour after the stock is flavored, and cooking the roux briefly, prevents lumps and raw floury taste.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, onion, lemon, butter, flour, mace, oyster):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, lemon, butter, flour, mace, oyster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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