Mock Turtle of Calf's Head

History

This recipe comes from The Virginia House-Wife, by Mary Randolph, 1824. It is the baked, pastry-lined form of the dish; the same cookbook also carries a separate soup version, "Mock Turtle Soup of Calf's Head." Randolph's baked recipe opens "Have the head nicely cleaned, divide the chop from the skull, take out the brains and tongue, and boil the other parts till tender," and the closing instruction — to reduce the gravy less and serve it in a tureen — shows the two forms were understood as one preparation with two finishes.

Mock turtle is an English dish of the mid-eighteenth century, created as an imitation of green turtle soup. Turtle soup itself became popular after sailors coming from the West Indies landed a couple of them upon British soil in the 1750s. The imitation followed the collapse of that supply: the soup was created in response to overhunting to near extinction of the turtles needed for the original dish, and the animals were very expensive, driving up price even further. Calf's head served as the substitute because such cuts duplicate the texture and flavour of the original's turtle meat — an economical addition with plenty of tastes and textures in itself. Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery gave instruction on "How to dress a mock turtle" from a calf's head by the 1751 edition.

Randolph drew on the knowledge of the enslaved people who worked in her kitchens; the majority of the labour in her kitchen was done by Black women, and the book never explicitly credits those men and women of African descent. Whether that applies to this particular recipe, the record does not say.

Ingredients

• 1 calf's head
• 1 knuckle of veal
• 3 onions
• thyme
• parsley
• 1 teaspoon pounded cloves
• 1 teaspoon mace
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• 2 gill red wine
• 1 gill mushroom catsup
• 1 gill walnut catsup
• butter
• brown flour
• paste
• brains
• grated bread
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 eggs

Instructions

1. Have the calf's head nicely cleaned. Divide the chop from the skull, remove the brains and tongue, and boil the remaining parts until tender. Set the cooked head pieces aside.
2. In the cooking water, add a knuckle of veal (or four pounds of lean beef), three chopped onions, thyme, parsley, one teaspoon of pounded cloves, one teaspoon of mace, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste. Boil these together until reduced to one pint. Strain the gravy and add two gills of red wine, one gill of mushroom catsup, and one gill of walnut catsup. Thicken with butter and brown flour.
3. Cut the head meat into small pieces and stew briefly in the gravy.
4. Line the edge of a deep dish with paste in three folds, one atop the other, leaving the bottom uncovered. Pour in the meat and gravy, and bake until the paste is done.
5. Prepare the brains: pick out all strings, pound the brains, and mix with grated bread, pepper, and salt. Form into small cakes using the yolk of an egg, then fry until nicely browned.
6. Hard boil six eggs. Leave one whole and halve the others. Have some bits of paste nicely baked.
7. When the head is removed from the oven, arrange the whole egg in the center and place the halved eggs, brain cakes, and paste bits tastily around it.
8. If serving as soup instead, reduce the gravy less, and serve in a tureen with brain cakes and forcemeat balls fried in place of the eggs and paste.
9. The tongue should be salted and put in brine. Four tongues, boiled and peeled, served with four small boiled chickens make a handsome dish, either cold or hot, with parsley and butter poured over them.