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Boiled Sheep Head

A boiled sheep head served with brains, tongue, and broth seasoned with herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Boiled Sheep Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Clean the sheep head.

  2. Soak it in 1 gallon of salted water for 2 hours.

  3. Discard the water.

  4. Remove the brains.

  5. Place the head in a pan with enough water to cover it.

  6. Simmer until the meat easily separates from the bones.

  7. Remove the head.

  8. Reserve the broth.

  9. Remove all the meat.

  10. Cut the tongue in half lengthwise.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter.

  2. Stir in the flour without browning it.

  3. Add the reserved broth.

  4. Add the onion.

  5. Add the parsley.

  6. Add the thyme.

  7. Add the celery.

  8. Season with pepper and salt.

  9. Simmer slowly for 15 minutes.

  10. Remove the herbs.

  11. Add the meat.

  12. Heat through.

Serve

  1. Tie the brains in a clean cloth.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Chop finely.

  4. Serve the sheep head on a hot dish.

  5. Place the chopped brains in the center.

  6. Place the tongue on top.

  7. Garnish with chopped parsley.

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. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 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

Sheep head
Forms the main body of the dish, with meat that separates from the bones when simmered.
Butter
Melts with the flour to form a roux that thickens the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a smooth sauce when cooked briefly in butter.
Broth from boiled head
Provides the liquid base and savory flavor of the sauce.

The step that matters

Stir in the flour without browning it. Flour cooked in butter must be stirred constantly over gentle heat. Browning changes its color and flavor and weakens its thickening power, so a pale roux gives a smooth, light sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, thyme, pepper, celery, butter, flour):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, thyme, pepper, celery, butter, flour. 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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