TO CHOOSE VEAL

VEAL should be fat, finely grained, white, firm, and not overgrown: for when very large it is apt to be coarse and tough. It is more difficult to keep than any other meat except pork, and should never be allowed to acquire the slightest taint before it is dressed, as any approach to putridity renders it equally unwholesome and offensive to the taste. The fillet, the loin, the shoulder, and the best end of the neck, are the parts generally selected for roasting; the breast and knuckle are more usually stewed or boiled, although the former is excellent roasted. The udder or firm white fat of the fillet, is much used by French cooks instead of butter, in the composition of their forcemeats: for these, it is first well boiled, then left until quite cold, and afterwards thoroughly pounded before it is mixed with the other ingredients. The head and feet of the calf are valuable articles of food, both for the nutriment which the gelatinous parts of them afford, and for the great variety of modes in which they may be dressed. The kidneys, with the rich fat that surrounds them, and the sweetbreads, are well known delicacies; the liver and the heart also are very good eating; and no meat is so generally useful for rich soups and gravies as veal.

TO TAKE THE HAIR FROM A CALF’S HEAD WITH THE SKIN ON.

It is better to do this before the head is divided; but if only the half of one with the skin on can be procured, it must be managed in the same way. Put it into plenty of water which is on the point of simmering but which does not positively boil, and let it remain in until it does so, and for five or six minutes afterwards, but at the first full bubble draw it from the fire and let it merely scald; then lift it out, and with a knife that is _not_ sharp scrape off the hair as closely as possible. The butchers have an instrument on purpose for the operation; but we have had the head look quite as well when done in the manner we have just described, as when it has been sent in ready prepared by them. After the hair is off, the head should be _well_ washed, and if it cannot be cooked the same day, it must be wiped extremely dry before it is hung up; and when it has not been divided, it should be left whole until the time approaches for dressing it. The brain must then be taken out, and both that and the head well soaked and washed with the greatest nicety. When the half head only is scalded, the brain should first be removed. Calves’ feet are freed from the hair easily in the same manner; indeed, we find it a better mode of having it cleared from them than the one we have given in Chapter XXII., though that is practised by many good butchers.

BOILED CALF’S HEAD.

When the head is dressed with the skin on, which many persons prefer, the ear must be cut off quite close to it; it will require three quarters of an hour or upwards of additional boiling, and should be served covered with fried crumbs: the more usual mode, however, is to boil it without the skin. In either case first remove the brain, wash the head delicately clean, and soak it for a quarter of an hour; cover it plentifully with cold water, remove the scum as it rises with great care, throw in a little salt, and boil the head gently until it is perfectly tender. In the mean time, wash and soak the brains first in cold and then in warm water, remove the skin or film, boil them in a small saucepan from fourteen to sixteen minutes, according to their sage, and when they are done, chop and mix them with eight or ten size leaves boiled tender and finely minced; or, if preferred, with boiled parsley instead; warm them in a spoonful or two of melted butter, or white sauce; skin the tongue, trim off the root, and serve it in a small dish with the brains round it. Send the head to table very hot with parsley and butter poured over it, and some more in a tureen. A cheek of bacon, or very delicate pickled pork, is the usual accompaniment to boiled calf’s head.

We have given here the common English mode of serving this dish, by some persons considered the best, and by others, as exceedingly insipid. On the continent, tomata sauce takes place of the parsley and butter; and rich oyster or Dutch sauce, are varieties often substituted for it in this country.

With the skin on, from 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 hours; without the skin, from 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

CALF’S HEAD, THE WARDER’S WAY.

(_An excellent Receipt._)

Boil the half-head until tolerably tender; let it cool, and bone it entirely; replace the brain, lay the head into a stewpan, and simmer it gently for an hour in rich gravy. From five-and-twenty to thirty minutes before it is dished, add half a pint of mushroom-buttons. Thicken the gravy, if needful, with rice flour or with flour and butter, and serve plenty of forcemeat-balls round the head. For dishes of this kind, a little sweet-basil wine, or a few sprigs of the herb itself, impart a very agreeable flavour. When neither these nor mushrooms are within reach, the very thin rind of a small but fresh lemon may be boiled in the gravy, and the strained juice added at the instant of serving.

Boiled from 1 to 2 hours; stewed 1 hour.

_Obs._—The skin, _with the ear_, may be left on the head for this receipt, and the latter slit into narrow strips from the tip to within an inch and a half of the base; which will give it a feathery and ornamental appearance, the head may then be glazed or not at pleasure.

PREPARED CALF’S HEAD.

(_The Cook’s Receipt._)

Take away the brains and tongue from the half of a calf’s head, and then remove the bones, being careful in doing so to keep the knife as close to them as possible, and to avoid piercing the outer skin: in this consists the whole art of boning, in which an attentive cook may easily render herself expert. Next wash the head and dry it in a clean cloth; sprinkle over the inside a little pounded mace, and cayenne or white pepper; roll it up tightly, and bind it round with tape or twine. Lay into a small stewpot three or four pounds of neck of veal or of beef, twice or thrice divided, and place the head upon it with the bones well broken; pour in half a gallon of cold water, or as much as will suffice to keep the head covered until it is done, and simmer it very gently from an hour and a quarter to an hour and three quarters. When it is extremely tender, lift it out, and if wanted for table, remove the binding, and serve it very hot, with currie sauce, rich oyster sauce, or egg sauce and brown gravy; but should the remains, or the whole of it be required for the following receipts, pour no gravy over it: in the latter case do not take off the tape for several hours. The tongue may be stewed with the head, but will require rather less time. We do not think it needful to repeat in every receipt our directions for adding salt to, and removing carefully the scum from, meat that is stewed or boiled, but the cook must not neglect either. When the trouble of boning is objected to, it can be dispensed with for some of the dishes which follow, but not for all. After the head is taken out, boil the gravy until it is well reduced, and rich: it should be strongly jellied when cold. A bone of ham, or a slice of hung beef will much improve its flavour; but vegetables must be avoided if it be wanted to keep: a little spice and a faggot of parsley may be added to it, and a calf’s foot will be sure to give it the requisite degree of firmness. This receipt is for a head without the skin.