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To Hash Calf's Head Brown
563. From a head half boiled cut off the meat in slices, half an inch thick, and two or three inches long. Brown some butter, flour, and sliced onions, and throw in the slices with some good gravy, truffles, and morels; give it one boil, skim it well, and set it in a moderate heat to simmer till very tender. Season with pepper, salt, and cayenne, at first; and ten minutes before serving throw in some shred parsley, and a very small bit of tarragon and knotted marjoram cut as fine as possible. Just before serving add the squeeze of a lemon, and a table-spoonful of ketchup, and if liked a glass of white wine. Forcemeat balls and bits of bacon rolled round.
A brown hash built on a partly boiled calf's head, in the style of early-Victorian second-course dishes. The head is the hard part to source; the method itself is a straightforward brown braise.
- Sourcing the headWhole calf's head is a special order from a halal or Italian butcher, and usually comes split and skinned. A boned rolled calf's head, or 2-3 lb of veal cheek and shin with a split veal foot for body, gives the same gelatinous result.
- "Half boiled"The head is first simmered until the meat is set and can be cut cleanly but is nowhere near tender; for a whole head this is likely to be around an hour, though it depends on size. It finishes cooking in the sauce, so do not take it to the falling-apart stage first. Keep the cooking liquor: the recipe's "good gravy" would in this period more often have been a separately made brown meat gravy, but the head liquor serves.
- Browning the baseButter, flour and onions browned together is a brown roux with the onions in it. Take it to the colour of dark toast over moderate heat and stir constantly - flour scorched at this stage makes the whole hash bitter, and there is no rescuing it.
- "A moderate heat to simmer"On the stovetop this is a bare shiver, no more than an occasional bubble. The recipe assumes hearth-side cooking rather than an oven; if you prefer the oven, something around 300-325F will hold that simmer. Allow roughly an hour to an hour and a half for the slices to become very tender, judging by the meat rather than the clock.
- Truffles and morelsMorels were commonly sold dried, and preserved truffles were also to be had. Dried morels, soaked and their strained liquor added, are the practical choice; 1 oz dried is generous. Truffle can be left out without harming the dish.
- KetchupIn a British book of this date ketchup means mushroom or walnut ketchup, a thin dark savoury liquid - not tomato. Mushroom ketchup is still made commercially; a spoonful of soy plus a little anchovy is the nearest substitute.
- Knotted marjoramAn old name for sweet marjoram, Origanum majorana, milder and sweeter than oregano. With the tarragon it wants to be barely detectable, which is why the recipe insists on a very small bit cut as fine as possible.
- Bacon and forcemeat"Bits of bacon rolled round" is most likely thin streaky bacon rolled into small cylinders, though it may simply mean the bacon and balls arranged round the dish; either way they are cooked separately and set round at the end. Forcemeat balls of veal or pork with breadcrumbs, suet and lemon zest are fried or poached apart from the hash.
- YieldA whole calf's head hashed this way serves eight to ten as a course; the substitute quantities above serve four to six with potatoes or plain rice.