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Calf's Head Fricasseed

A stewed and browned calf's head dish served in gravy with mushrooms, truffles, morels, brain cakes and fried oysters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 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 ↓

Calf's Head Fricasseed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Boil the calf's head until almost tender, then carefully remove the meat from the bone.

  2. Place the meat in a small dish, brush with beaten eggs, and cover with a mixture of breadcrumbs, finely chopped herbs, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg.

  3. Set the dish near the fire, turning occasionally until browned evenly.

Make the sauce and stew

  1. Slice the remaining head and tongue (peeled), and place in a pan with gravy, onion, herbs, salt, cayenne, shallot, sherry, and oyster liquor.

  2. Boil for a few minutes, then strain over the meat, which should be dusted with flour.

  3. Add mushrooms, truffles, morels, and half of the beaten brains mixed with butter and flour, then simmer.

Fry and garnish

  1. Mix the other half of the brains with lemon peel, nutmeg, mace, and chopped parsley, then fry in small cakes until golden brown.

  2. Dip oysters in egg yolk and fry, along with the forcemeat balls made for mock turtle.

  3. Garnish the dish with fried oysters and small pieces of hot 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. 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. Tarragon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Marjoram + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg wash helps the breadcrumb coating brown and stick to the meat.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the meat.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness and smooth body.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it clings to the meat.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture to the stew.
Sherry
Adds acidity and depth of flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the breadcrumb crust by the fire. Turning the dish evenly lets the crumbs toast uniformly; uneven heat scorches some spots while leaving others pale and soft.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, parsley, basil, tarragon, marjoram, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, parsley, basil, tarragon, marjoram, pepper, 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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