This section is from the book "The Modern Housewife Or Menagere", by Alexis Soyer. Also available from Amazon: The Modern Housewife Or Menagere.
My dear Eloise, - Do not make any mistakes in the way you describe the above receipts, which might be made very ridiculous if wrongly explained. For example: I once had an old French Cookery Book in my hand, which had the 15th edition stamped on its old brown leather cheek, in which a receipt of "Tcte de Veau a la pou-lette," that is, a calf's head, with white sauce, in which small onions and mushrooms are introduced, reads as follows - but, before describing it, allow me five minutes to indulge in a hearty laugh at the absurd manner in which it is explained: it reads thus: "First choose your head as thick and fat as you can, then plunge it in two gallons of water, which must be nearly boiling in a pan on the fire; let your head remain about ten minutes, then take it out by the ears, and, after remaining a short time, scrape your hair off with the back of a knife without injuring your cheek, and pull your eyes out; break your jawbone and saw your head in two without smashing your brains, which take out carefully; set it in cold water, to get clean and white; then pull out your tongue, scrape and dry it, having previously boiled it with your head, which, after two hours' ebullition, will feel as soft as possible, when see that your head is in the centre of the dish; your tongue divided in two and placed on each side of it: sharp sauce, according to No.- is allowed to be served with either head or tongue." I assure you, dear, although I do not profess to be a first-rate scholar in that fashionable language - French, that I believe this to be as near as possible the true translation of the original. Then follows calves' feet, which is nearly as absurd as the former: "Pied de Veau au naturel," Calves Feet, the natural way.-"Choose your fine feet in the rough state, and, as with your head, place a pan of water on the fire; when hot, but not too much so, put your feet in the water for about ten minutes, try if you can easily clean them as your head with a knife, if not, add a spoonful of salt in the water, and let them remain a few minutes longer; then scrape like your head; when well cleaned wipe them dry, and they are ready for dressing, which may be done in almost twenty different ways. (See the series 'How to cook Pigs' Feet.') When your feet are tender, set them on a dish, take out the big bone, surround them with sausage-meat; wrap them up in caul, and form a heart with them; then place your feet on a gridiron, let them gently broil, and, when done, eat them for breakfast or luncheon." (After which a gentle walk might give you an appetite for dinner.)
Calf' s Head (No. 313) may be dressed thus : - Half of the head will make a good dish for a remove; lay it in the dish very hot, having previously drained it well; have ready about a pint of Hollandaise or cream sauce, No. 280, pour it over and serve.
It may be surrounded with a dozen new potatoes, if in season, or some quenelles, or quarters of hard-boiled eggs; a little chopped parsley thrown on the head when the sauce is over it, makes it look very inviting. It can also be served "a la poulette," by putting a pint of white sauce in a stew-pan ; you have peeled and cooked about fifty button onions in white broth, to which you have added a little sugar and butter, and a few mushrooms; add the broth, onions, and sauce together, and when on the point of boiling, add a liaison of two yolks of eggs and the juice of a lemon; stir it well round; it ought to be the thickness of cream sauce; pour over the head and serve.
It can also be egged and bread-crumbed, and placed in the cream for twenty minutes to get a nice brown color, and may be served with sauces, Nos. 150, 165.
 
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