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Calf's Head, Hashed

A hash of sliced calf's head cooked with gravy, oysters, and brain cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Calf's Head, Hashed

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Calf's Head, Hashed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the brain cakes

  1. Slice the cold calf's head into pieces about ¼ inch thick and 3-4 inches long.

  2. Beat the brains with parsley, lemon rind, salt, and pepper, then form the mixture into cakes.

  3. Fry the cakes in hot fat until browned.

Make the gravy

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the flour until smooth.

  2. Add the stock, pepper, salt, cayenne, and oyster liquor, then bring to a boil.

Combine and serve

  1. Add the calf's head pieces, mushroom ketchup, and oysters.

  2. Simmer until hot, but do not boil again.

  3. Serve the meat in the center, pour gravy over it, and arrange fried bacon and brain cakes around.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Brains (in the method)
Bound with parsley and lemon rind, they form cakes that brown well in hot fat.
Butter
Melted with flour to make the roux that thickens the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth gravy.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the gravy and carries its flavor.
Oysters
Add a briny, savory flavor to the gravy and the dish.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds deep savory, umami flavor to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer until hot, but do not boil again. Oysters toughen and turn rubbery when boiled, and boiling can curdle or break a flour-thickened gravy. Gentle heat keeps the oysters tender and the sauce smooth.

“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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