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Calf's Head Pie

An excellent pie may be made of calf's head. Take one properly prepared, and boil it until the bones can be taken out. Line the edge of a large pie-dish with a good, light crust, put in the pieces of meat, the tongue at the top, season it with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg, pour over it a cupful of the liquor in which the head was boiled, cover it with a thick crust, and bake in a good oven until nicely browned. While it is baking put the bones of the head into a saucepan, with a quart of the liquor, a tea-spoonful of powdered mace, an onion chopped small, and half a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper. Let it simmer gently until it is reduced to half, then strain it, and add two table-spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup and a glass of port. Mix the brains with three or four sage-leaves, chopped small, a little nutmeg grated, and an egg. Make them up into little cakes, and fry them in hot frying fat until they are nicely browned. Put them in the oven to keep warm, with a sheet of blotting paper under them to drain off the fat. Have ready also four or five hard-boiled eggs. When the pie is sufficiently cooked, take off the crust, and lay the brain cakes and the eggs, cut into rings, on the top; pour the boiling gravy over all, and fasten the crust on again with the white of an egg before sending the dish to table. Time to bake, an hour and a half or more. Sufficient for eight or nine persons. Probable cost, from 6s. to 11s.