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A Calf's Head

A boiled calf head served with a savory gravy made from its own broth, liver, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Liver and horseradish work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 42 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Soak the calf's head in cold water for 2 hours.

  2. Remove the brains and scrape the head clean.

  3. Flour a cloth, wrap the head tightly, and place it in 6 to 8 quarts of water with the salt pork.

  4. Tie the brains in a separate piece of cloth.

Boil

  1. Boil the head for 2 hours.

  2. Add the liver, lights, and brains to the pot.

  3. Boil for 2 more hours.

  4. Remove the cloth; the bones will come out easily.

  5. Place the head skin side up on a dish to keep warm while making the gravy.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine the boiling liquid, chopped liver, braided brains, butter, flour, pepper, salt, and sweet marjoram.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add vinegar.

  4. Divide the liver and head, skin the tongue, and arrange it around the head on the dish.

  5. Pour some gravy over the head.

  6. Serve the rest of the gravy in a gravy dish.

  7. Garnish with scraped horseradish and lemon slices.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Liver + horseradishtop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together42 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  2. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together957 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Pork + livertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

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 dish, cooked slowly until tender enough for the bones to lift out.
Salt pork
Adds savory fat and seasoning to the cooking liquid, enriching the broth.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the gravy, giving it a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the gravy by binding with the butter and cooking liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and balances its fattiness.
Liver
Contributes deep, rich flavor and body to the gravy.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and butter to the gravy. Flour must be cooked into the butter and hot liquid while stirred, or it forms lumps instead of a smooth thickened gravy. Adding vinegar only after the mixture boils keeps its sharp flavor bright.

“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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