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 with Mushrooms
Take half a calf's head with the skin on, wash it in two or three waters, and boil it about an hour, or until the bones can be removed with-out very much difficulty. Remove the bones, replace the brain, and put the head into a stewpan with the skin downwards, and just cover it with good brown gravy, season it with salt and cayenne, and let it simmer for half an hour. Rub two dozen button mushrooms with a flannel and a little salt, cut the ends off the stalks, which must be separated from the mushrooms, and then put them into a stewpan with a little hot butter, and boil them in it for five minutes, taking care that they do not stick to the pan. Drain them, and put them into the gravy, which may be thickened with a little ground rice, and stew all together for another hour. Serve with veal forcemeat balls, and a few rashers of fried bacon. Time, two and a half hours. Probable cost, 5s. 6d. Sufficient for six persons.