To Bake a Calf's Head
Source: Mary Randolph, 1824
History
"To bake a Calf's Head" is printed in The Virginia House-Wife, the cookbook Mary Randolph first published in 1824. As printed, the recipe directs the cook to divide and wash the head, wash its outside with beaten egg yolks, strew on sifted bread raspings with pepper, salt, nutmeg and mace, add the brains cut up and dipped in butter, dot the head with butter, pour equal parts white wine, water and gravy into the pan, cover it close, and bake it in a quick oven; it is served with strong gravy and garnished with slices of lemon, pickled red beet root, fried oysters and fried bread. Baked calf's head was already an established dish in 18th-century English cookery, well before Randolph's book: Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) includes a recipe titled "To Bake a Calf's Head". The Virginia House-Wife itself came out of Randolph's own household — she was born into the Virginia gentry and, after financial reversals, kept a boardinghouse — and her text drew on the knowledge of the enslaved people who worked in her kitchens and on recipes from her extended family. The book was widely read, republished at least nineteen times before the Civil War. Beyond this, the historical record I could source does not document a specific social meaning for this dish; that claim is omitted rather than asserted.
Ingredients
- 1 calf's head
- 2 egg yolks
- bread raspings (panko or grated breadcrumbs)
- pepper
- salt
- nutmeg
- mace
- calf's brains
- butter
- white wine
- water
- gravy
- lemon
- pickled red beet root
- oysters
- bread
Instructions
- Divide the calf's head and wash it thoroughly. Beat the egg yolks well, then wash the outside of the head all over with them. Combine sifted bread raspings with powdered pepper, salt, nutmeg, and mace; strew this mixture all over the egg-washed head.
- Cut the brains into pieces and dip them in thick butter. Arrange these on and around the head, then cover the whole with bits of butter.
- Pour white wine and water into the baking pan along with gravy in equal proportion to the liquid. Cover the pan closely.
- Bake in a quick oven until done. When ready to serve, pour strong gravy over the head. Garnish with slices of lemon, pickled red beet root, fried oysters, and fried bread.