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Potted Head
Cleanse perfectly half a bullock's head and a cow-heel. Put them into lukewarm water, and let them soak for two or three hours. Drain them and put them into a stewpan; cover with cold water, and let them simmer very gently until the meat is quite tender. Pour the liquid into a separate bowl, and set it in a cool place. Let the head and heel cool, remove from them the bones, skin, and sinew, and cut the flesh into very small pieces. Skim the fat from the top of the broth, strain the liquor, and put it into a jar, with the minced meat and a seasoning of salt, cayenne, and pounded mace. Cover closely, and let it bake in a gentle oven for three hours longer. Pour it into small moulds, and let these stand in a cool place. When quite cold the preparation will form a jelly, and it should be turned out for use, and served cold. Garnish the dish with sprigs of fresh parsley. If the jelly is so stiff that there is a difficulty in turning it out, plunge the mould into boiling water for a second or two, and it will come away easily. Time, about three hours to simmer the head and heel from the time the water reaches the boiling-point. Probable cost of bullock's head, 8d. per pound; of cow heel, 4d. to 8d.
A jellied brawn that relies entirely on the natural gelatine in head and foot — no added gelatine anywhere. Everything else follows from that.
- The hinge: never skim away the gelatineThe cooking liquor is the setting agent. Chill it, lift off the solid fat cap, and keep every drop of the jelly underneath; if you pour off cloudy liquor with the fat you will get minced meat in a puddle rather than a sliceable loaf.
- Sourcing the meatHalf a bullock's head is an order-in item from a traditional butcher, usually split and with the tongue and brains removed. A workable equivalent is about 3 lb of ox cheek and shin plus two split cow heels or four pig's trotters, which supply the same collagen.
- Cow heelThe lower foot of a cow, sold split, and almost pure collagen and connective tissue. Its only job here is to set the jelly. Pig's trotters are the easiest substitute and are more widely stocked.
- "Gentle oven"A slow oven, roughly 275-300F. The jar is closely covered, so little liquid is lost; the three-hour bake serves to marry the seasoning rather than to cook the meat further, which is already tender — a covered pot barely trembling on the hob does the same work.
- Simmering time is optimisticSimmering time may be optimistic -- three hours from the boil will not always bring a bullock's head to the falling-apart stage; be prepared for longer. Test by pulling at the cheek meat rather than by the clock.
- Seasoning quantitiesNo amounts are given for salt, cayenne or mace. Season the strained liquor firmly before it goes into the jar — cold jelly tastes markedly blander than the hot mixture, so what seems slightly over-seasoned warm will be about right set.
- Pounded maceThe lacy aril that covers the nutmeg seed, dried and ground. Blade mace crushed in a mortar is closest to the original; ready-ground mace from a jar works, used sparingly, and loses its aroma faster.
- Cooling and keepingSet the moulds in the refrigerator, not a larder. This is cooked meat in a moist, low-acid jelly and it should be treated like any cooked meat: chilled within a couple of hours and eaten within three or four days.
- Yield and servingA half head and a heel produce a great deal of meat, which is why the recipe calls for several small moulds. Small dariole moulds or a loaf tin both work; serve cold in slices with vinegar or mustard, as well as the parsley.
Potted head is the Scottish and northern English name for what southern English cookery calls brawn and American butchers call head cheese: meat from a boiled head, chopped and set in its own jelly. The technique is old and thrifty rather than invented by anyone in particular — a head and a foot are the cheapest collagen-rich cuts on the animal, and boiling them yields both the meat and the setting agent in one pot. The costings quoted here — head at eightpence a pound, heel at four to eightpence — show the sort of economy the dish was valued for, and it needed no ice, only a cool larder. Commercially made potted head was long a staple of Scottish butchers, and it can still be found today.