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Burlington Whimsey

A chilled meat aspic made from calf's head, ham, gravy, herbs, and spices, molded with tongue slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Burlington Whimsey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Set aside half a dressed calf's head until cold.

  2. If the gelatinous part is not tender, trim and mince it.

  3. Mince additional calf's head to make 1 lb after trimming.

Make the aspic

  1. Combine minced gelatinous part with 1 pint of gravy and stew gently for 10-15 minutes.

  2. Add 3 oz chopped ham, lemon rind, parsley, thyme, mace, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne to the mixture.

  3. Stir well and add ½ pint more gravy.

  4. Simmer the mixture for 4-5 minutes.

Mould and serve

  1. Pour into moulds lined with tongue slices and let cool until firm.

  2. Garnish with dry parsley before serving.

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. Parsley + thymetop 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. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Calf's head
Provides meat and natural gelatin that help the aspic set firm when chilled.
Gravy
Supplies the liquid base that carries the flavour and gelatin of the aspic.
Lean boiled ham
Adds savoury, salty meat flavour and a firmer bite to the filling.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aroma and a touch of acidity that lifts the rich meat flavour.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool until firm in the moulds. Setting depends on gelatin from the calf's head cooling slowly and undisturbed. Moving or unmoulding too early leaves the aspic soft and unable to hold its shape.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, lemon, parsley, thyme, nutmeg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, lemon, parsley, thyme, 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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