Calf's Head Pudding

Boil the head until the bones drop out, pick the meat fine, then lay the brains over the top and bake.

From: Housekeeping in Old Virginia
Published: 1879
Yikes Scale: Yikes

Exactly as printed, 1879

Skin the head, take out the brains. Thoroughly wash, then soak the head one night to extract the blood. Put on in cold water and boil five or six hours, or until the bones are ready to drop out. Pick it very fine, taking all the bones out; then add the liquor in which it was boiled, one tablespoonful butter, four eggs well beaten; one small piece of lemon or pickle; one onion, if liked; pepper and salt Lay the brains all over the top and bake. Bread crumbs are an improvement. The liquor seasoned makes excellent soup.--Miss F.E.

Housekeeping in Old Virginia, 1879. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

The brains on top are the reason this cannot be made. Bovine central nervous tissue is specified risk material, removed from the food supply under BSE controls that no cooking gets around.

The pudding underneath is a good one. An overnight soak to draw the blood, a long boil, picked meat bound with beaten egg — that is a proper brawn, and it would be excellent.

Notes from the 21st century

Bind, do not drown. Four beaten eggs are the whole structure. Add only enough cooking liquor to moisten the picked meat, or it will not set.
Cassell's adds a note on carving. Its calf's-head entry observes that “some persons prefer the eye.” The genre commits fully.
Two to three pounds of shin will substitute. If you want a brawn without the head, shin and trotter give the same gelatine and the same set.

Also in this book

Brandy Peaches — Five minutes in boiling lye to strip the fuzz, and blanched kernels added to the jar.
Pickled Cucumbers (Gallon vinegar) — Line the brass kettle with grape leaves and boil, to green the fruit.
Roast Turkey, with Truffles — Stuff the raw turkey with raw pork fat and truffles, then leave it two days so the perfume migrates.

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