Skip to main content
Main

Sheep's Brains, Scalloped

Scalloped sheep's brains are boiled, seasoned, and baked in scallop shells with butter and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sheep's Brains, Scalloped

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the brains

  1. Soak the brains in cold salted water for 1 hour.

  2. Remove the skin and pick away the fibers.

  3. Boil the brains in water mixed with vinegar and salt for 10 minutes. Transfer them to cold water for a few minutes, then drain.

Make the filling

  1. Cut the brains into small pieces and mix with minced onion, chopped parsley, vinegar, anchovy essence, pepper, and salt.

  2. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the brains, and cook until done but not browned.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter the insides of scallop shells or small dishes and cover with a layer of bread crumbs.

  2. Distribute the minced brains and gravy among the shells, then cover with another layer of crumbs.

  3. Brown the surface in a 400°F (200°C) oven or before the fire, and serve hot.

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

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Sheep's brains
Forms the soft, delicate main body of the dish once cooked.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp top layer that browns during baking.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the brains cook without drying out.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and firms the brains during boiling.
Onion
Adds sharp aromatic flavor that balances the richness of the brains.

The step that matters

Cook the brains until done but not browned. Overcooking toughens and dries the delicate brain proteins, while browning in the pan alters the mild flavor and texture before baking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, parsley, anchovy, pepper, butter, bread):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, parsley, anchovy, pepper, butter, bread. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes