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Calf's Head Hashed, or Ragout

A hash of boiled calf's head, seasoned with herbs, bread, and eggs, served with brains and fried bread garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 22 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley 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 ↓

Calf's Head Hashed, or Ragout

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Wash the calf's head.

  2. Boil the calf's head until tender, keeping the skin on.

  3. Remove the bones from half of the head.

  4. Score the half head superficially.

  5. Beat the egg.

  6. Brush the beaten egg over the head.

  7. Sprinkle the head with grated bread, lemon peel, thyme, and parsley.

  8. Add bread crumbs to the head.

  9. Place the head in a Dutch oven to brown.

Make the hash

  1. Cut the other half of the head into slices.

  2. Place the slices in a stew pan with gravy, white wine, and catchup.

  3. Let the mixture warm together.

  4. Skim off the fat.

  5. Peel the tongue.

  6. Serve the tongue with the brains as a side dish.

  7. Mix the brains in a bowl with flour, eggs, lemon peel, thyme, parsley, sage, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.

  8. Fry the mixture in small cakes until lightly browned.

Serve

  1. Serve the hash with the browned half-head in the center.

  2. Garnish with bacon and fried bread sippets.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 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. Thyme + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,503 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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 main meat, which is boiled until tender and then sliced for the hash.
Eggs
Bind the brushed coating and the brain mixture so the cakes hold together when fried.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust on the half head in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the brain mixture so it can be shaped into cakes.
Gravy or turtle sauce
Provides moisture and savory body for the sliced head in the stew pan.
White wine
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the brain cakes. The mixture is soft and held together only by egg and flour. Frying over moderate heat lets the outside set and brown before the inside cooks through, so the cakes keep their shape.

“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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