Skip to main content
Main

Burlington Whimsey

A gelatinous dish made from calf's head, gravy, ham, lemon rind, herbs, and spices, set in tongue-lined molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 head

  1. Remove any tough gelatinous parts from the calf's head and mince them.

  2. Mince additional parts of the head to make up 1 lb total, trimming off edges and fat.

Make the filling

  1. In a pot, combine the minced gelatinous part with 1 pint of gravy and simmer gently for 10‑15 minutes.

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

  3. Combine this with ½ pint more of gravy and simmer for 4‑5 minutes.

Mould and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into molds or pans lined with slices of tongue and let it cool until firm.

  2. Garnish with dry parsley before serving, and consider serving with a salad dressing.

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 (gelatinous part)
Its natural gelatin helps the mixture set firm as it cools.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the filling as it sets.
Lean boiled ham
Adds savoury flavour and a meaty, firmer texture.
Lemon rind
Adds bright citrus aroma and a light lift to the rich filling.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice that rounds out the flavour.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool until firm. The set depends on gelatin from the head firming as the mixture cools. Pour it into the molds only once the filling is well combined, then allow it to cool fully before unmoulding, so it holds 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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes