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Calve's Head Hashed and Grilled

A hash of calf's head meat in a sauce of herbs, mushrooms, ham and Madeira, topped with breadcrumbs and butter and browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 25 ingredients
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Why it works: Basil and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 688 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Calve's Head Hashed and Grilled

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the calve's head until half done, or until the bones slip out.

  2. Cut one side into small square pieces, including the tongue and palate.

  3. Wash the pieces in several waters.

  4. Place the meat in a stew-pan and cover with stock.

  5. Score the other side of the head and add it to the stew-pan.

  6. Once tender, remove the meat and butter a sauté pan.

Bake the hash

  1. Lay the meat in the pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and mixed herbs.

  2. Drizzle with oiled butter, sprinkle breadcrumbs, and add clarified butter on top.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. For the sauce, melt butter in a stew-pan and add shallot, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, mushrooms, and ham.

  2. Cook on low heat for about 30 minutes, then add enough flour to absorb the butter.

  3. Stir in the stock from the calve's head and add Madeira.

  4. Keep stirring until it boils, then simmer for 10 minutes.

  5. Rub the sauce through a sieve and mix it with the hash.

  6. Add forced-meat balls and egg balls if desired, and squeeze in lemon juice.

  7. Season with fine spice, cayenne pepper, and a bit of sugar to taste.

  8. Serve with the grilled meat in the center.

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. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Calve's head
Provides the main meat, whose gelatin from boiling gives the hash body and richness.
Flour
Absorbs the melted butter and thickens the sauce as it cooks with the stock.
Madeira
Adds fortified wine sweetness and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Butter
Carries flavour and adds richness, and browns the breadcrumb topping in the oven.
Mushrooms
Add earthy savoury flavour and moisture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Rubbing the sauce through a sieve. Pressing the sauce through a sieve removes bits of herbs, mushroom and ham, giving a smooth, even texture before it is mixed with the hash.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pepper, butter, sauce, shallot, parsley, marjoram):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, butter, sauce, shallot, parsley, marjoram. 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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