No. 889 — Fried Calf's Head with Brown Sauce
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 889 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
Scald the calf's head with boiling water, remove the hair, wash and divide into two halves.
Remove the brains for another dish. Put the head into cold water with pepper, bay leaves, root vegetables and vinegar but no salt, and cook until tender.
Remove, wash in cold water, take the meat from the bones, cut into pieces or slices and put under a press. When cool, salt, coat each piece with beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fry in butter.
Serve with brown wine sauce No. 408 or sweet-and-sour sauce No. 415.
Cook the remaining bones longer with the leftover broth and some additional meat, to make aspic for mayonnaise-style dishes or jellied meat. The historical text estimates about three glasses of aspic in summer or four in winter.
To provide
1 calf's head 5–10 allspice berries 1–2 bay leaves | 1 carrot, ½ parsley root and ½ celery root ½ leek, optionally 1 onion, and 1 cup of breadcrumbs 2 spoonfuls of butter and 1–2 eggs |