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Burlington Whimsey

A gelatinous dish made from calf's head, gravy, ham, and spices, set in molds and garnished with parsley.

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 meat

  1. Remove any tough gelatinous parts from the calf's head.

  2. Mince the removed parts.

  3. Combine the minced meat with 1 pint of gravy.

  4. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.

Make the aspic

  1. Add 1 lb of minced calf's head, 3 oz of chopped ham, lemon rind, parsley, thyme, mace, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne to the mixture.

  2. Stir well.

  3. Add another ½ pint of gravy.

  4. Simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into molds lined with tongue slices.

  2. Let it cool completely before unmolding.

  3. Garnish with dry parsley before serving.

  4. Serve with salad sauce.

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

Gravy
Forms the liquid base that will set into a firm savoury jelly when cooled.
Calf's head meat
Provides the main body of meat and natural gelatin that helps the aspic set.
Lean boiled ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour and a firmer meaty texture throughout the aspic.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aromatic acidity that cuts the richness of the meat and gravy.

The step that matters

Let it cool completely before unmolding. Aspic only holds its shape once fully chilled and set, because gelatin forms a gel as it cools. Unmolding early can cause it to collapse or tear.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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