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Modern Cookery

A soup made with calf's head, tongue, ham, and vegetables simmered in stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine veal, carrots, onion, celery, herbs, mace, peppercorns, and salt in a pot, cover with water, and simmer until the meat is tender.

  2. Strain the broth and pour it over the veal. Simmer gently until the meat falls off the bones.

  3. Remove the brains from the calf's head and bone it. Return the bones to the pot to enrich the stock.

  4. Strain the soup through a fine sieve into a clean pan, let it cool, and skim off the fat.

Cook the head

  1. Roll the head with the tongue inside and secure it with twine. Pour the soup over the head and bring to a gentle boil.

  2. Simmer for 1 to 1.25 hours, skimming regularly. Transfer the head to a deep pan or tureen and add the soup.

  3. Let it cool to prevent dark edges.

Prepare the ham and shallots

  1. Cut the ham into quarter-inch slices, then dice.

  2. Peel and slice the shallots.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Carrot + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together803 recipes

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

  5. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckle or neck
Its collagen turns to gelatin during simmering, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Calf's head
Its connective tissue and bones release gelatin, enriching the stock and giving the meat a silky texture.
Tongue
Cooked slowly inside the rolled head, it becomes tender and adds a firm, meaty texture.
Lean undressed ham
Its salt and cured flavour season the soup and add a savoury, smoky depth.
Shallots
They contribute a mild, sweet onion aroma that lightly flavours the soup.
Carrots
They add natural sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Strain and skim the fat before reheating. Fat that is not removed after cooling stays in the soup and makes it greasy and cloudy. Straining through a fine sieve removes solids so the broth stays clear and smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, onion, celery, ham, shallot):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, onion, celery, ham, shallot. 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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