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Collared Calf's Head
Clean and simmer an unskinned calf's head until very tender. When tender, remove the bones carefully and flatten the head, cover it with a thin sprinkling of parsley, then a layer of thin slices of uncooked ham, then a layer of slices of hard boiled eggs, seasoned highly with pepper. Roll tightly in a cloth. Boil two hours. When done, take it out, place it under a weight and stand aside until cold. When cold, remove the cloth and serve cut in thin slices.
A galantine in the old English manner: the head is boiled twice, once to loosen the bones and again once rolled, then pressed cold and sliced like a terrine. The work is mostly patience, and the shape depends entirely on how tightly you roll and how heavily you weight it.
- Sourcing the headA whole calf's head, skin on and split, is a special order from a butcher who breaks down veal, so allow time. Half a head, or a mixture of boned veal cheek and tongue, gives a broadly similar gelatinous texture in a more manageable size.
- "Unskinned" mattersThe skin is rich in collagen and helps the roll set firm when cold, so scald and scrape it clean rather than removing it. A skinned head is likelier to slice untidily.
- First simmerTwo to three hours at a bare simmer, around 180-190F, until the bones lift out with finger pressure. A rolling boil shreds the cheek meat and clouds the liquid you will want to keep for the poaching or for aspic.
- Bone it warmBones and cartilage come away cleanly only while the head is still hot enough to handle with a towel. Once it cools the gelatin sets and the whole thing must be reheated.
- The raw ham"Uncooked ham" here means dry-cured raw ham -- prosciutto, speck, or country ham -- not fresh pork. Sliced thin, it seasons the roll and adds salt; the second boil brings it well past any concern.
- Rolling and clothUse a doubled length of scalded muslin or cheesecloth and tie at two-inch intervals with butcher's twine so the roll cannot loosen. Modern practice is to wrap in plastic film first, then cloth, which keeps the layers from sliding apart.
- Second boilTwo hours is the original instruction and it is not excessive; the roll must knit into one mass. Keep the water at a lazy simmer and top it up so the roll stays submerged.
- PressingWeight it with a board and four or five pounds -- a couple of large cans works -- in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe already calls for a weight; a long spell under pressure is what gives clean slices.
- Yield and servingA whole head gives a roll that serves twelve to sixteen as a cold cut. Slice thin with a long knife, straight from the refrigerator, and serve with mustard, cornichons or a sharp vinaigrette. It keeps three or four days wrapped.
To "collar" meat is to bone it, season it, roll it into a cylinder and press it cold -- the word is the same one used for collared eel, collared pork and collared beef, all generally traced to English cookery from the seventeenth century onward and all designed to turn cheap or awkward cuts into something that could be sliced on a sideboard for days. A calf's head was an inexpensive purchase, and it was also one of the most gelatinous, so it set into a firm sliceable roll without any added aspic. Its appearance in a book of hot weather dishes is suggestive: this looks like food cooked once, in the cool of the morning or the evening before, then eaten cold for several days running without further use of the range -- which would presumably have been an advantage in a summer kitchen. Calf's head cookery faded in English-speaking countries through the twentieth century as offal fell out of fashion, though a comparable technique is found in the French charcuterie tradition as tête de veau roulée.