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.
Calves' Brains
When the brains are received drop at once in a bowl of cold water, changing it until all blood is drawn out and the brains look white. Carefully pull away as much of the covering membrane as possible. Place in a saucepan, add I teaspoonful of salt, I thin slice of onion, I sprig of parsley and boiling water to cover. Simmer very gently for twenty minutes, then drain and plunge in cold water if they are to receive a second cooking-as when breaded and fried.
When to be served with black butter put in a small saucepan 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, add a slight dash of cayenne and heat slowly; let it color until almost black, then add 2 tablespoonfuls of plain or tarragon vinegar. Draw to one side until the brains are cooked and keep hot.
When the brains are done drain them quickly, arrange on a hot platter, pour over them the black butter, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley and serve as quickly as possible as they are at their best when piping hot.