Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 68II. nodaļa

Teļu galva, savādi

Calf's head with sweet-sour gingerbread sauce

  • Serves 6–8
  • about 4 hours, plus 4–6 hours' soaking
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Tellu-galwa, sawadi.

Modernizētslpp. 108–110 · PDF 122–124
6 porcijas

The book gives no quantities; the amounts below are ours.

Method

8 soļi
  1. Soak the head and feet in plenty of cold water in the fridge or a cold place for 4–6 hours, changing the water two or three times. Soak loose brains in cold salted water for 1 hour and peel off the membrane.
  2. Put the head (or rolled head and tongue) and feet in a large pot, cover with cold water and add the salt. Bring slowly to the boil, skim well and simmer gently until tender: 2½–3 hours for a whole head, 2–2½ hours for a rolled head, about 2 hours for a tongue, 3 hours for the feet. Poach loose brains in simmering salted water with a splash of vinegar for 15 minutes, until firm (our addition).
  3. Start the sauce 45 minutes before the head is done. Fry the bacon in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat for 8–10 minutes, until the fat runs. Add the onions and cook gently for 10–15 minutes, stirring, until soft but not brown.
  4. Add the vinegar, water, pepper, allspice, sugar, lemon, raisins, currants, almonds, gingerbread and rye bread. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't catch, until thick and glossy. Thin it with a little broth if needed. Taste: it should be clearly sweet and sour. If using browned flour instead, stir it into the bacon and onions before the liquid.
  5. Lift the head carefully into a large warm dish and keep the broth for soup.
  6. Whole head (the book's way): trim off any untidy bits. Cut open the underside where the tongue is and take out the tongue. Peel it while hot and cut it lengthwise in half. Take out the lower jaw with the teeth and peel the white skin from the palate. Turn the head right side up in the serving dish. Break off the top of the skull, lift out the upper half of the brain and leave the rest in the head. Lay the removed brain in the pieces of skull, smooth side up.
  7. Rolled head: remove the string and cut into thick slices. Peel the tongue and halve it lengthwise. Slice the poached brains.
  8. Season the brains with salt and pepper. Pull all the bones out of the feet and lay the feet and tongue around the head. Pour the sauce over and set the brains (in their skull pieces, if you have them) on the sauce at either side.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book boils the soaked head and feet in salted water. The sauce is bacon fried in a small pan, onions softened in it, then vinegar, a little water, pepper, allspice, sugar, lemon, raisins and currants, blanched almonds, grated gingerbread and grated rye bread, simmered and stirred. For those who don't like gingerbread it gives browned flour instead. The serving instructions are the book's too. The rolled-head option, poaching loose brains, amounts and times are ours.

Sourcing

whole calf's heads have to be ordered from a specialist butcher; ask for it scalded and cleaned, with the tonsils removed, since they may not be sold. Rolled calf's head is easier to find in France and from some European butchers, often ready-cooked; then just reheat it in its broth.

Brains

in the EU and UK the skull, brain and eyes count as banned "specified risk material" only in cattle over 12 months, so brains from young calves can still be sold, but few butchers have them. Leave them out if you can't get them; the dish is complete without them.

The sauce is the same family as the sweet-sour "black" sauces still served with tongue and carp in German and Polish cooking.

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