Tête de veau

I am at a loss for a subhed on this one

Tête de veau is one of those specialities that almost every country has - the ones that leave outsiders going “You eat what?” Since we often aren’t always sure what a menu is describing in France, we often just accept the plat du jour as a safe bet. And if not safe, at least interesting.

This was in Bourg-le-Roi, a lovely town with one small family run Bistro/Tabac/ Épicerie. Really nice people, and obviously tête de veau day is when everyone for miles around shows up for lunch.

I’ve eaten fermented narwhal in Nunavut, and all manner of local specialities, and can even politely manage liver or kidneys on a good day, but this is the first dish that I’m sure that I won’t order again. I mean, it was tasty and well prepared, but the textures of the whole thing were just more than I could enjoy.

As far as i can tell my tête de veau didn’t include any brain, but honestly I’m not 100% sure…

Anyhow, a great discussion of the challenges of this dish can found at the Jancis Robinson web site, including the valuable advice to:

Poach in a broth, well seasoned with vegetables, parsley, peppercorns and plenty of salt either on the stove on the gentlest of flames or in the oven on the lowest light. Once a meat skewer can be put through the head and meets no resistance, on average after about five hours, it will be ready but at this stage Harris offers two invaluable bits of advice for the adventurous cook. “Firstly, this is one dish that has to be cooked completely. There is no more certain way of putting anyone off tête de veau forever than to serve it undercooked. And the second is that once you have finished cooking it you must allow it to cool completely otherwise it will explode.”

(And at this point, an homage to Anthony Michael Bourdain, who is my model for how to approach food.)

Finally, more than making up for our tête de veau adventure are the utterly glorious dishes served by the new restarant just below our Air BnB in Alençon. If you’re in Normandy it’s worth a trip, and yes you need a reservation.

L’Évidence. 6 Pl. du Bas de Montsort, 61000 Alençon
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