1) Boiled Calf’s Head
Just as tea is Britain’s national drink, so too is roast beef the country’s national dish. From the still-savoured cuts of rump and sirloin to the slightly less desirable bullock’s heart (a common substitute for the Christmas turkey for the poor of Northern England), since the English Reformation in the 1600s we’ve been consuming beef in the brisket load. And if you need any more proof as to how strongly the stuff flows through the veins of our national identity, “les rosbifs” is a term the French have been using to insult us since the 1850s.
Of the hundreds of varieties of how we cook our beef, one particular recipe stands heads and shoulders above the rest. Or rather just heads. The recipe in question is for the Calf’s head, and it first dates from the year 1660, when the English king Charles II was restored to the throne. Before we look at how to prepare this delicacy, it’s worth emphasising that the recipe was as symbolic as it was gastronomic. For in terms of cattle rearing and animal husbandry, the English in this period were at the cutting-edge (or at least as cutting-edge as it was possible to be in the pre-industrial age).
Several versions of the recipe have been passed down. And we have the Poisonous Purple Pears’ creator Hannah Glasse to thank for one of them, who not only illuminates her reader as to how they can boil, bake, or hash the head but also suggests a recipe for how they can turn it into a rather charming pie. The process is much the same; at least for the first part. You have to wash the head well, removing as much brain and blood as humanly possible, and then boil it in water and liquor until it’s tender. Only then can you remove the skin, slice the tongue, and, in case you were wondering, gouge out the eyes.
As well as the sage, meat, and breadcrumb stuffing packed into the head, condiments to compliment the dish include a lovely white wine, nutmeg, and orange sauce (sprinkled with a dash of salt of course). But just in case this is starting to sound tempting and you’re thinking of making this for your next Sunday lunch, just be aware that it’s pretty hard to get hold of and it might not be quite to everyone’s taste.
