Braised Calf's Head (with Calf's Head, Financiere)

Boned, stuffed and sewn shut — and the Financière version forms the brains into cakes and skewers cockscombs on top.

From: The Cook Book by Oscar of the Waldorf
Published: 1896
Yikes Scale: Yikes

Exactly as printed, 1896

Clean and bone the head. Prepare a sufficient quantity of finely-chopped lean veal and fat bacon to stuff it. Season the stuffing with sweet herbs, salt and pepper, and bind it with the beaten yolks of three eggs. Stuff the head, sew it up securely to prevent the stuffing from oozing out and wrap it in a cloth. Line a braising pan with slices of veal and bacon; also a few slices of carrots; put in the head with a bunch of thyme and parsley and two bay leaves; season to taste with spice, and pour in one pint of broth and one-half pint of white wine. Stew the head for four hours. When cooked take it out of the cloth, put it on a hot dish and garnish with a financiere stew. Strain the cooking liquor of the head into a small clean stewpan, mix a wineglassful of Madeira wine with it; boil it a few minutes, then pour it over the head, and serve.

Calfs Head, Financiere For the preparation of this neat dish all the principal parts are prepared as for a stew--the ears are scalded and stuffed, the brains formed into cakes. The pieces of meat are cut into large discs and arranged round a forcemeat loaf made of the trimmings, and around this again, either on the same dish or upon one below it, the ears and brain-cakes are arranged with blanched olives and button mushrooms. Skewers garnished with cockscombs, truffles and various other things, surmount the whole.

The Cook Book by Oscar of the Waldorf, 1896. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

The brains are the disqualifying part. Bovine central nervous tissue is specified risk material and is excluded from the food supply; forming it into cakes does not change that.

The rest is technically superb and entirely safe. Boning a head, stuffing it and holding a four-hour braise at a bare tremble is real skill, and a burst seam loses everything.

Notes from the 21st century

180–190°F, never a boil. “Stew the head for four hours” means liquid that shivers. A rolling boil bursts the seam you have just sewn.
Order it split and boned. A whole calf's head is a heavy special order. Weights vary widely; the butcher should split, bone and singe it for you.
“Financière” means the garnish. Cockscombs, kidneys, truffles, olives, quenelles. It is a named classical garnish, not a description of the head.

Also in this book

Almond Milk — Four ounces of almonds to a pint of water — “either bitter or sweet,” says Oscar, as though it made no difference.
Cleaning Codfish — Cod is crimped by being notched with a knife while still partly alive. Some cooks object.
Crabs (to boil) — Boiled alive from cold, slowly, specifically so they do not throw off their claws.

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