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Calfs Head Hashed, or Ragout

A hash made from boiled calf's head, brains, and seasoned meat, served with bacon and brain cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Calfs Head Hashed, or Ragout

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Wash the calf's head.

  2. Boil half of the head for 15 minutes.

  3. Boil the other half for 1 hour or longer until tender.

  4. Remove all the brains.

  5. Beat the brains with an egg on a plate.

  6. Brush the egg mixture over the head.

  7. Sprinkle the head with thyme, parsley, and bread crumbs.

  8. Place the head in a Dutch oven to brown.

Make the hash

  1. Slice the other half of the head.

  2. Place the sliced head in a stewpan with 1 quart of gravy.

  3. Simmer for 45 minutes.

  4. Remove the meat.

  5. Strain the gravy into a clean stewpan with forcemeat-balls and white wine.

  6. Warm the meat in the gravy.

  7. Skim off the fat.

Make the brain cakes and serve

  1. In a bowl, mix the brains with flour, 2 eggs, lemon peel, thyme, parsley, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  2. Fry the mixture in small cakes until light brown.

  3. Serve the hash with the browned half of the head in the middle, garnished with crispy bacon and brain cakes.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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, providing meat that becomes tender through long boiling.
Eggs
Bind the brain mixture and set when fried, holding the small cakes together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the egg coating and form a crisp, browned crust on the head.
Flour
Thickens the brain mixture so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Gravy
Supplies moisture and savory richness that keeps the meat tender while it warms.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich gravy.

The step that matters

Frying the brain cakes. The mixture is soft and wet, so it can break apart or stick if the pan is too cool or it is moved too early. Frying in small cakes over steady heat lets the egg and flour set into a firm crust before turning, giving a light brown exterior with a cooked interior.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, bread, white wine, flour, lemon, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, bread, white wine, flour, lemon, pepper. 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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