Calf's brain

Cervelle de veau

What it is

BSE rules redrew this cut: the brain of any bovine over twelve months is specified risk material in the EU, so every calf's brain legally sold comes from an animal younger than that. What the regulation left untouched is the oldest way of eating it — soaked pale, membranes lifted, poached, then browned in noisette butter until the outside sets and the middle stays custard.

In the kitchen

Soak it two hours in several changes of cold water with a spoon of vinegar until it goes white, then lift the membrane away under the tap before it firms. Poach it in a court-bouillon that never bubbles — around 80 °C — because a rolling boil breaks it into curds.

Goes with

Butter Capers Lemon Parsley White wine vinegar Black pepper Nutmeg Shallot

Same species

Abura-kasu Amourettes (spinal marrow) Spider steak Bastourma Flank steak Beef

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