Skip to main content
Main

Calf's Head Fricasseed

A stew of calf's head pieces simmered with gravy, herbs, mushrooms, truffles, morels, and fried oyster and bacon garnishes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 23 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Calf's Head Fricasseed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Clean and half-boil the calf's head.

  2. Cut the meat into small bits.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pan, combine gravy, onion, herbs, salt, cayenne, shallot, sherry, and oyster liquor.

  2. Boil for a few minutes and strain over the meat.

  3. Dredge the meat with flour.

  4. Add mushrooms, truffles, morels, ketchup, and half the brains mixed with butter and flour.

  5. Simmer the mixture.

Make the cakes and garnish

  1. Beat the remaining brains with lemon peel, nutmeg, mace, and shredded parsley.

  2. Mix in the egg and fry in small cakes until golden brown.

  3. Dip oysters in egg yolk and fry.

  4. Garnish the dish with fried oysters, forcemeat balls, and hot bacon bits.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Tarragon + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 main body of the dish, becoming tender through half-boiling and then simmering.
Brains
Enrich the sauce and bind the forcemeat cakes, giving a soft, creamy texture.
Egg
Binds the brain mixture so the small cakes hold their shape when fried.
Flour
Dredges the meat and thickens the sauce, helping it cling to the pieces.
Sherry
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a meaty texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the brain cakes until golden brown. The egg-bound mixture can break apart or burn on the outside if the pan is too hot, while the centre stays raw. Moderate heat lets the proteins set evenly and the surface brown gradually.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesMushroom SoupMushroom Soup60 recipesMock Oyster SoupMock Oyster Soup21 recipesCorn FrittersCorn Fritters6 recipes