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Burlington Whimsey

A gelatinous calf head dish made with gravy, ham, lemon rind, herbs, and spices, set in tongue slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Burlington Whimsey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Set aside the dressed calf's head until completely cold.

  2. Trim the gelatinous part if it is not tender.

  3. Mince the gelatinous part.

  4. Mince enough of the head to make 1 lb after trimming.

Make the jelly

  1. Stew the minced gelatinous part in 1 pint of gravy for 10-15 minutes.

  2. Add 3 oz of chopped ham, lemon rind, parsley, thyme, mace, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne to the minced head. Stir well.

  3. Add ½ pint more gravy.

  4. Boil the mixture gently for 4-5 minutes.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into molds lined with slices of tongue.

  2. Let cool until firm.

  3. Garnish with dry parsley before serving.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Provides the meat and gelatinous parts that give the jelly its body.
Gravy
Supplies liquid and flavour that the minced head cooks in and sets around.
Gelatinous part of calf's head
Releases natural gelatin as it stews, helping the mixture set firm when cooled.
Boiled ham
Adds savoury, meaty flavour throughout the mixture.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aromatic oil that lifts the rich, meaty flavour.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture gently for 4-5 minutes. Gentle heat keeps the mixture from turning cloudy or tough while it combines. Gelatin needs to be fully dissolved to set firmly when cooled, so the mixture should be hot enough to dissolve it without a hard boil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, lemon, parsley, thyme, nutmeg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, lemon, parsley, thyme, nutmeg. 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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