Calves Head Hash

This recipe hails from Elizabeth Smith’s 18th-century English manuscript cookery collection, dating roughly between 1749 and 1800. During this period, the English kitchen was a site of both extravagant displays of butchery and thrift. Head meats—often neglected today—were considered delicacies and were put to good use with clever techniques, stretching a single prime cut into multiple textures and forms for the table. Dishes like this presented a centerpiece worthy of a grand household, combining boiled, rolled, and roasted elements in one dramatic platter. Recipes of the era were written for well-equipped households with access to a range of meats and often presumed a knowledgeable cook accustomed to working with whole animals.

In the 18th century, cooks would have used a large iron stew pot for boiling, carving knives to remove bones, a wooden board for assembling and rolling meat, linen strips or twine to bind the roll, and a spit or trivet by the open hearth for browning the finished collar. Fine mesh sieves, stone mortars, and wooden mixing bowls aided in forcemeat preparation, while tongs and ladles assisted with handling the hot meats. Modern makers will use heavy-bottomed stock pots, sharp kitchen knives, cutting boards, mixing bowls, kitchen twine, baking trays, and ovens or broilers for browning.