Important: Safety Warning
This recipe calls for animal brains or related nervous-system tissue. Cattle brain and spinal tissue can transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the cause of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which is fatal and has no treatment.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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Calf's Head Brawn
Take half a large calf's head with the skin on. Wash it well, take out the brains and the soft bone, and lay it in a pickle made of one pound of salt, a quarter of a pound of bay salt, half a pound of moist sugar, and one ounce of salt-petre, boiled in three quarts of water for twenty minutes, skimmed, and put aside until cold. Let it stand in this for eight days, turning it every day. Take it out, wash it well, and boil it gently until tender. Remove the bones, and put the meat while hot into a brawn-tin, flavouring it with salt, pepper, pounded mace, and a little cayenne. Put a heavy weight on it, and let it stand until firm. Turn it out and garnish with parsley. Time, three or four hours. Sufficient for six or seven persons.