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Calf's Head Hashed White
562. Let the head be well washed, and then boil it in soft water. Take the meat from the bones and cut it into thin collops, then take of the water it was boiled in enough to stew it till the meat is thoroughly hot. Work half a pound of butter well with some flour, and mix with it a little essence of anchovies, three blades of mace, a little nutmeg, with pepper and salt. Put this to the collops, and mix it well together. Take the yolk of an egg, well beaten, and stir it up with half a pint of cream, then add it to the hash. When done, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and garnish with balls of forcemeat and egg balls.
A white hash of boiled calf's head, thickened with kneaded butter and finished with a yolk-and-cream liaison. The technique is sound; the shopping is the hard part.
- Never let it boil after the cream goes inThe egg yolk beaten into the cream is a liaison, not a sauce base. Once it is stirred into the hash, keep the pan below a simmer (around 180F) and stir until it thickens, or the yolk will curdle into threads and the whiteness of the dish is lost. Add the lemon juice off the heat for the same reason.
- Sourcing the headA whole calf's head, split, must be ordered from a butcher who does offal, and many will supply it boned or halved. Tongue and brains are often included. If it comes whole, ask for it split and the nasal passages cleaned.
- Boiling itA split head needs 2 to 3 hours at a bare simmer, until the meat parts from the bone easily. Skim the scum off in the first fifteen minutes or the cooking liquid, which becomes your sauce, will be cloudy and grey rather than white.
- CollopsSimply thin slices. Cut the cheek and the gelatinous skin into pieces about the width of a finger; the texture ranges from lean meat to soft gelatine, which is the point of the dish.
- Soft waterA live concern in Victorian kitchens with hard well water, which was thought to toughen meat and dull colour. Tap water is fine; filtered if yours is very hard.
- Kneaded butterHalf a pound of butter worked with flour is beurre manie in all but name and is generous by modern standards. Roughly two ounces of butter kneaded with two ounces of flour will thicken about a quart of stock; work in more only if the sauce stays thin.
- Essence of anchoviesA bottled anchovy reduction, still sold as anchovy essence in Britain. Anchovy paste, thinned with a spoonful of the cooking liquid, does the same job. Use half a teaspoon at first: it is there for savour, not for fish flavour.
- Mace and nutmegBlades of mace are the dried outer covering of nutmeg and are removed before serving. Blades vary in size, so three of them amount to something in the region of a quarter to half a teaspoon of ground mace if you cannot get whole; grate the nutmeg fresh.
- The garnishesForcemeat balls are small dumplings of minced veal or pork with breadcrumbs and herbs, poached or fried; egg balls are hard-boiled yolks pounded with a little raw yolk and flour, rolled small and simmered a minute. Both are optional but they are what makes the dish look finished.
- YieldOne head gives generous portions for six to eight as a main course. It is rich; serve with plain boiled potatoes or rice and something sharp.