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 ↓
Calf's Head Hashed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the head and make the gravy
Remove the brains from the calf's head and feet, then boil the head and feet until tender.
Cut the flesh off the head and feet into slices from the bone.
Put the meat and bones into a stew-pan with sweet herbs, sliced onions, pepper, salt, a large piece of butter rolled in flour, and a little water.
Stew slowly until the flavor is well extracted from the herbs and onions.
Take out the meat, season it with cayenne pepper, and lay it in a dish.
Strain the gravy, stir in two glasses of madeira, lemon juice, and grated peel.
Bake and serve
Pour some gravy over the meat, lay a piece of butter on top, bake in the oven until brown.
Clean and wash the brains, skin them, remove the strings, and parboil them in a sauce-pan.
Make brain balls with chopped sweet herbs, grated bread-crumbs, grated lemon peel, nutmeg, and beaten egg yolk.
Fry the brain balls in a mixture of lard and butter.
Serve the brain balls around the meat, garnish with sliced lemon.
Warm the remaining gravy in a small sauce-pan over hot coals.
Stir beaten egg yolk into the gravy a minute before removing it from the fire.
Serve the gravy in a boat.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Butter
- Rolled in flour, it thickens the gravy, and the piece on top enriches and browns the meat.
- Madeira
- Adds wine flavor and sweetness to the gravy once it has been strained.
- Egg yolk (in the method)
- Thickens the gravy when stirred in off the heat and binds the brain balls.
- Bread-crumbs (in the method)
- Provide body to the brain balls, helping them hold their shape.
The step that matters
Stir beaten egg yolk into the gravy a minute before removing it from the fire.. Egg yolk thickens when heated but scrambles if it boils, so it should be stirred in off the heat with the gravy kept just below a simmer.
“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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