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To Grill a Calf's Head

A roasted calf's head prepared with lemon pickle, butter, flour, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Grill a Calf's Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Clean and divide the head.

  2. Remove the brains and tongue.

  3. Boil the head until tender.

  4. Remove the eyes whole.

  5. Cut the flesh from the skull into small pieces.

Make the gravy

  1. Take some of the boiling water for gravy.

  2. Add salt, cayenne pepper, grated nutmeg, and a spoonful of lemon pickle to the gravy.

  3. Stew the gravy until well flavored.

  4. Thicken the gravy with the yolks of two eggs and a spoonful of butter rubbed into two of flour.

  5. Stew the head in the thickened gravy for a few minutes.

Grill the chop and serve

  1. Take the jowl or chop, remove the bones, and cover it with breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, pepper, and salt.

  2. Set the mixture in an oven to brown.

  3. Put the head in the dish and lay the grilled chop on it.

  4. Garnish with brain cakes and broiled sweetbreads.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

647Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
99 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. See the original page.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the gravy as they set with gentle heat, giving it body.
Flour
Mixed with butter, it forms a roux-like paste that thickens the gravy.
Butter
Rubbed into flour and added to the gravy, it adds richness and helps smooth the thickening.

The step that matters

Thicken the gravy with the yolks of two eggs and a spoonful of butter rubbed into two of flour.. Egg yolks thicken when heated gently but can curdle or scramble if the gravy boils, so add them off the boil and stir constantly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg. 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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