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Burlington Whimsey

A gelatinous dish made from calf's head, ham, gravy, lemon rind, herbs, and spices, set into molds and chilled.

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 head

  1. Set aside the dressed calf's head until completely cold.

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

Make the filling

  1. Combine the minced gelatinous part with 1 pint of gravy and simmer for 10‑15 minutes.

  2. Add 1 lb of minced head, 3 oz of 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.

Mold and serve

  1. Pour into molds or pans lined with slices of tongue 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

Gelatinous part of calf's head
Its natural gelatin sets the mixture firm as it cools.
Gravy
Provides the moist liquid base that the meat and gelatin set in.
Boiled ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and a firmer meaty texture to the filling.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aromatic oils that cut the richness of the meat.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool until firm. The set depends on gelatin released from the calf's head cooling slowly. If the mixture is not fully chilled, or is poured before it has thickened, it will not hold its shape when turned out.

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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