Boiled Calf's Head

Ingredients

• 1 whole calf's head
• salt
• calf's brains
• 8 to 10 leaves sage
• 1 to 2 spoonfuls melted butter or white sauce
• 1 whole tongue (from the calf's head)
• parsley and butter
• 1 whole cheek of bacon or pickled pork

Instructions

1. Remove the brain from the head and set aside.
2. Wash the head delicately clean and soak it for a quarter of an hour.
3. Cover the head plentifully with cold water and bring to a boil.
4. Remove the scum as it rises with great care, add a little salt, and boil the head gently until it is perfectly tender.
5. Wash and soak the brains first in cold water, then in warm water.
6. Remove the skin or film from the brains.
7. Boil the brains in a small saucepan for fourteen to sixteen minutes, depending on their size.
8. Chop the cooked brains and mix them with eight or ten sage leaves boiled tender and finely minced, or boiled parsley if preferred.
9. Warm the brain mixture in a spoonful or two of melted butter or white sauce.
10. Skin the tongue, trim off the root, and place in a small dish.
11. When the head is perfectly tender, lift it out of the pot.
12. Serve the head very hot with parsley and butter poured over it, and serve additional butter in a tureen.
13. Arrange the brains around the tongue in the small dish.
14. Serve with a cheek of bacon or very delicate pickled pork as accompaniment.