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A soup made by simmering veal, vegetables, and calf's head, then rolling the head with tongue inside and simmering further.

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. Simmer veal with carrots, onion, celery, herbs, mace, peppercorns, and salt until meat falls from bones.

  2. Strain broth and pour over veal.

  3. Simmer gently to avoid reducing stock too much.

  4. Remove brains from calf's head, bone it, and return bones to stock for enrichment.

  5. Strain soup through a fine sieve and let cool.

  6. Skim off fat.

Prepare and cook the head

  1. Roll the head with tongue inside.

  2. Secure with twine.

  3. Pour soup over the head.

  4. Bring to a gentle boil.

  5. Skim.

  6. Simmer for 1 to 1.25 hours.

  7. Transfer head to a deep pan.

  8. Add soup.

  9. Let cool to prevent dark edges.

Prepare the garnish

  1. Dice ham after removing fat and rind.

  2. Slice 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
Builds a rich, gelatinous broth as the meat breaks down during simmering.
Calf's head
Forms the main body of the soup, yielding tender meat and gelatin.
Tongue
Adds rich, tender meat that is rolled inside the head for the dish.
Lean ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour as a diced garnish.
Shallots
Add mild, sweet onion-like aroma as a sliced addition.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after the boil. Vigorous boiling toughens meat proteins and makes stock cloudy, while gentle simmering keeps the head tender and the broth clear.

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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