The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;

Scald the hair off; trim and pare it, and make it look as neat as possible. Take out the bones, and have ready palates boiled tender, hard-boiled yolks of eggs, oysters just scalded, and very good forcemeat: stuff all this into the head, and sew it close in a cloth. Boil it gently for full three hours. Make a strong good gravy for sauce. Garnish with fried bacon.

Calf’s Head, to dress like Turtle

The wool must be scalded off in the same manner as the hair is taken off a little pig, which may be done at the butcher’s; then wash and parboil it; cut the meat from the bones, and put it in a saucepan, with as much of the broth as will just cover it. Put in half a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and some common pepper and salt, a large onion, and a faggot of sweet-herbs; take out the herbs and the onion before it breaks. About half an hour before it is done, put three quarters of a pint of white or raisin wine; have ready the yolks of six or eight eggs boiled hard, which you must make into small balls, and put in just before you serve it up. It will take two hours and a half, or perhaps three hours doing, over a slow fire.

Calf’s Head, to hash. No. 1

Let the calf’s head be washed dean, and boiled tender; then cut the meat off one half of the head in small slices. To make the sauce, take some parsley, thyme, and a very little onion, let them be chopped fine; then pass them in a stewpan over the fire, with some butter, till tender. Add some flour, a very little pepper and salt, and some good strong broth, according to your quantity of meat; let it boil, then skim it, put the meat into it, and add a little lemon-juice and a little white wine; let all boil together about ten minutes. There may be some force-meat balls added, if liked. The other half of the head must be scored like diamonds, cross and across; then rub it with some oiled butter and yolk of egg; mix some chopped parsley and thyme, pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, and some bread crumbs; strew the head all over with this; broil it a nice light brown, and put it on the hash when dished. Scald the brains, and cut them in four pieces; rub them with yolk of egg, then let them be crumbed, with the same crumbs and herbs as the head was done with, and fried a light brown; lay them round the dish with a few slices of bacon or ham fried. The brains may be done, to be sent up alone on a plate, as follows: – Let the brains be washed and skinned; let them be boiled in broth, about twenty-five minutes; make a little white sauce of some butter, flour, salt, a little cream, and a little good broth; let it just boil; then pick a little green sage, a little parsley picked very small, and scalded till tender; the brains, parsley, and sage, must be strained off, and put into the white sauce, and let it come to a boil, just before you put them on the dish to send up.

Calf’s Head, to hash. No. 2

Take half a calf’s head, cover it with water in a large saucepan, and boil it till the meat comes from the bone. Cut it into pieces; put it into some of the liquor in which the head was boiled, and let it stew till it becomes thick. Add a little salt and mace, and put it into a mould.

Calf’s Head, to hash. No. 3

Your calf’s head being half boiled and cooled, cut it in thin slices, and fry it in a pan of brown butter; put it into your tossing pan with gravy; stew it till tender; toss it up with burnt butter, or butter rolled in flour. Garnish with forcemeat balls, and fritters, made of the brains, mixed up with eggs, a little cream, a dust of flour, nutmeg, and a little parsley, boiled and chopped fine. Mix them all well together, and fry them in little cakes; put a few bits of bacon and lemon round the dish.

Calf’s Head, to hash. No. 4

Half boil the head; cut it into round pieces; season with nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a large onion. Save all the gravy, put in a pint of white wine, a quarter of a pound of butter, and four spoonfuls of oyster liquor: let it stew with the meat, not too fast: thicken it with a little butter and a dozen of oysters, and, when dished, add some rolled bacon, forcemeat balls, and the brains fried in thin cakes, very brown, and the size of a crown-piece, laid round the dish. Garnish with lemon and pickled mushrooms; lemon pickle is an addition.

Calf’s Head, to hash. No. 5

Have the head well cleaned; boil it well, cut in slices half of the head, and have some good ragout of forcemeat, truffles, mushrooms, morels, and artichoke bottoms, also some veal sweet-herbs. Season your ragout, and throw in your slices, a bit of garlic and parsley, with some thyme, and squeeze a lemon in it, but be cautious to have it skimmed well. Take the other part of the head, and score it like diamonds; season with salt and pepper, and rub it over with an egg and some crumbs of bread. Then broil it, pour the hash into the dish; let the half head lie in the middle, and cut and set off the brains afterwards in slices. Fry bacon, and lay slices round the dish with sliced lemon.

Calf’s Head fricassee

Clean well a calf’s head, boil it and cut in square pieces of about an inch; put half a pint of its own liquor, and mix it well with some mushrooms, sweetbreads, yolks of eggs, artichoke bottoms, and cream. Season with nutmeg and mace, and squeeze in a lemon: but serve it up hot.

Calf’s Head, to pickle

Take out the bones and clean the head carefully: wash it well with eggs, seasoning it with pepper, salt, nutmeg, thyme, and parsley. Put some forcemeat on it, and roll it up. Boil it tender; take it up, lay it in sturgeon-pickle for four days; and if you please you may cut it in pieces as you would sturgeon.

Calf’s Liver

Lay it for a few hours in milk, then dry and fry it in butter.

Cauliflowers, with White Sauce

Boil the cauliflowers in small pieces till tender; drain them in a sieve; when quite dry lay them in a dish; season the sauce with a little pepper and salt, and pour it pretty thick over them.

Celery, to stew

Cut and trim a dozen heads of celery; put them in cold water to blanch; stew them in a little butter, salt, and water. When done enough they should be quite soft, but not broken. Drain them, and have ready a rich white sauce, the same that is used for boiled chickens, only without truffles or mushrooms; pour this sauce over the celery, and serve hot.

Another way

Take a dozen white heads of celery, cut about two inches long, wash them clean, and put them in a stewpan, with a pint of gravy, a glass of white wine, a bundle of sweet-herbs, pepper, and salt: cover close, and stew them till they are tender. Then take out the sweet-herbs; put in a piece of butter mixed with flour; let it stew till it is thick, and dish it up.

Celery à la Crême

Take a dozen white heads of celery, cut about two inches long; wash them very clean, and boil them in water till they are very tender; have ready half a pint of cream, a little butter mixed with flour, a little nutmeg, and salt; boil it up till thick and smooth; put in the celery, give it a toss or two, and dish it up.

Scotch Collops

Take a piece of the fillet of veal, as much as will cut into fifteen pieces, of the size and thickness of a crown-piece; shake a little flour over it; put a little butter into a frying-pan, and melt it; fry the slices of veal quick till they are brown, and lay them in a dish near the fire. Then prepare a sauce thus: take a little butter in a stewpan and melt it; add a table-spoonful of flour; stir it about till it is as smooth as cream; put in half a pint each of beef and veal jelly, cayenne pepper and salt, a pinch of each, and one glass of white wine, twenty-four pieces of truffles the size of a shilling, and a table-spoonful of mushrooms: wash them thoroughly from vinegar; squeeze the juice of half a lemon; stew the sauce gently for one hour; then throw in the veal, and stew it all together for five minutes. Serve quite hot, laying the veal regularly in the dish.

Another way

Cut the lean part of a leg of veal into thin collops; beat them with the back of a knife; season with pepper and salt, shred thyme and parsley, and flour them well. Reserve some of the meat to make balls. Taking as much suet as meat, shred it small; then beat it in a mortar; season with pepper, salt, shred herbs, a little shred onion, and a little allspice. Put in an egg or two, according to the quantity. Make balls, and fry them in good dripping; keep them warm. Then fry your collops with clarified butter, till they are brown enough; and, while they are warming in the pan, put in your sauce, which must be made thus: – have some good glaze, a little white wine, a good piece of butter, and two yolks of eggs. Put your balls to the collops; flour and make them very hot in the pan; put in your sauce, shake them well, and let them boil. If you would have them white, put strong broth instead of glaze and half a pint of cream.

Scotch Collops, brown

Cut your collops thin and from the fillet. Season them with salt and pepper, and fry them off quick and brown. Brown a piece of butter thickened with flour, and put in some good gravy, mushrooms, morels, truffles, and forcemeat balls, with sweetbread dried. Squeeze in a lemon, and let the whole boil till of a proper thickness. Then put in your collops, but do not let them boil; toss them up quick, and serve up.

Collops, White. No. 1

Take a small slice of veal, cut thin slices from it, and beat them out very thin: butter a frying-pan very lightly, place them in it, and pass them on the fire, but not to get any colour. Trim them round, and put them into white sauce.

Collops, White. No. 2

Cut the veal very thin; put it into a stewpan with a piece of butter and one clove of shalot; toss it in a pan for a few minutes. Have ready to put to it some cream, more or less according to the quantity of veal, a piece of butter mixed with flour, the yolk of an egg, a little nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of lemon-pickle. Stir it over the fire till it is thick enough, but do not let it boil. If you choose forcemeat balls, have them ready boiled in water, and take out the shalot before you dish up: ten minutes will do them.

Collops, White. No. 3

Hack and cut your collops well; season with pepper and salt, and fry them quick of a pale colour in a little bit of butter. Squeeze in a lemon: put in half a pint of cream and the yolks of four eggs. Toss them up quick, and serve them hot.

Collops, to mince

Chop some beef as fine as possible; the under part of roasted beef without any fat is best. Put some onions, pepper, and salt to it. Then put a little butter in the frying-pan; when it is melted, put in the meat, and stew it well. Add a cupful of gravy; if you have none, water will do. Just before it is done put in a little vinegar.

Collops of cold beef

Take off all the fat from the inside of a sirloin of beef; cut it neatly into thin collops, about the size of a crown or half-crown piece, as you like for size, and cut them round. Slice an onion very small; boil the gravy that came from the beef when roasted, first clearing it of all the fat, with a little water; season it with pepper, and, instead of salt, anchovies dissolved in walnut ketchup, or the liquor from pickled walnuts, and a bundle of sweet-herbs. Let this boil before you put in the collops; put them in with a good piece of butter rolled in a little flour; shake it round to thicken it, and let it do no longer than till the collops are thoroughly heated, lest they be hard. This does better than fresh meat. Serve it hot with pickles, or slices of stewed cucumbers, cut round, like the meat, and placed alternately with it round the dish.

Cucumbers, to stew

Pare twelve cucumbers, and slice them rather thicker than for eating; put them to drain, and lay them in a coarse cloth till dry. Flour and fry them brown in butter; then put to them some gravy, a little claret, some pepper, cloves, and mace; let them stew a little; then roll a bit of butter in flour, and toss them up. A sufficient quantity of onion should be sliced thin, and done like the cucumbers.

Curry Powder, from a Resident in India. No. 1

Half a pound of coriander seed, two ounces of black pepper, two ounces of cummin seed, one ounce of turmeric, one ounce and half of ground rice: all the above must be finely pounded; add cayenne to your taste. Mix all well together; put it into a dish close before the fire; roast it well for three or four hours; and, when quite cold, put it into a bottle for use.

Curry Powder. No. 2

Thirteen ounces of coriander seed,* two ounces of fenugreek seed,* (if not liked this may be omitted,) one ounce of cayenne pepper, or powdered capsicums, six ounces of pale-coloured turmeric,* five ounces of black pepper. Pound the whole very fine; set it in a Dutch oven before the fire to dry, turning it often; when cold put it into a dry bottle; cork, and keep it in a dry place. So prepared, curry-powder will keep for many years.

The ingredients marked thus * may be procured at Apothecaries’ Hall, or at any wholesale chemist’s.