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To Hash a Calf's Head Brown

A hash made from boiled calf's head, seasoned with gravy, pickles, ketchup, wine, mace, capers, gherkin, and topped with egg yolk, breadcrumbs, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Capers and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Hash a Calf's Head Brown

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the calf's head until cold.

  2. Cut half of the head into thin slices.

Make the hash

  1. In a stew-pan, combine the slices with brown gravy, walnut pickle, ketchup, red wine, mace, capers, and gherkin.

  2. Boil over low heat for a few minutes.

  3. Thicken with butter and flour.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the bone ends and score with a knife.

  2. Season with pepper and salt.

  3. Rub with egg yolk.

  4. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parsley.

  5. Broil until brown.

  6. Serve with the hash.

  7. Garnish with brain cakes and bacon.

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. Capers + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,024 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Walnut + caperstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together156 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,088 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 bulk of the hash, giving a meaty texture once boiled and sliced.
Brown gravy
Supplies moisture and savoury body to the sliced meat.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it clings to the meat.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth texture to the thickened sauce.
Egg yolk
Forms a glossy coating that browns under the broiler.

The step that matters

Broil until brown. The egg yolk and bread crumbs brown quickly under high heat, so the surface can scorch before it colours evenly. Watch closely and stop once it is golden.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, ketchup, red wine, capers, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, ketchup, red wine, capers, butter, flour, pepper. 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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