BOILED BRAINS

1 calf's brain
Vinegar or lemon juice, about 1 pint
Water
Butter

After removing all the large fibers and skin, soak [the brains] for four or five hours in water. Lay them in boiling water with a little salt and vinegar in it, then put them in a strong white vinegar, solution of citric acid, or lemon-juice. Dry them well, dip them in nice butter, and fry slowly in butter until done and nicely browned. Serve with drawn butter, or a sour sauce.

From The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia by Mrs. E. F. Haskell (1861).

Comment: This may be our favorite recipe out of the hundreds that we have read and posted here over the years. Because we are fond of eating brains?

Heck no. We just enjoy the thought of our readers walking into supermarkets across the land and asking the meat managers if they sell brains, as food products. And we are sick people with disgusting senses of humor, that too.

Sadly, in these days of Mad Cow and similar prion diseases we can no longer recommend actually eating the brains of any creature, and certainly no mammal. The disorder has turned up in sheep (where it probably originated) as well as deer, elk and even squirrels. So we must consign this one to the dustheap of history, alas.

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