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Croquettes of Sweetbreads

Croquettes of Sweetbreads are fried balls made from veal sweetbreads, eggs, butter, cream, and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Croquettes of Sweetbreads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Soak sweetbreads in cold salted water for 1 hour, removing pipes and membranes.

  2. Boil sweetbreads in salted water with vinegar for 20 minutes, then cool in cold water.

  3. Chop sweetbreads finely to a paste and season with salt, pepper, and grated onion.

Form the croquettes

  1. Add beaten egg yolks, butter, cream, and enough cracker crumbs to form a stiff mixture.

  2. Shape the mixture into small balls or cork-shaped croquettes.

  3. Roll croquettes in cracker crumbs, then in beaten eggs, and again in cracker crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry croquettes in hot fat until golden brown, then drain on brown paper.

  2. Serve hot with sliced lemon or parsley.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Provide the main body and delicate flavour of the croquette filling.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and form a coating that sets and browns when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the chopped mixture.
Cracker crumbs
Give the filling body and form the crisp, browning outer crust.

The step that matters

Forming the stiff mixture. If the mixture is too wet, the croquettes will not hold their shape and may split or fall apart in the hot fat. Adding just enough cracker crumbs gives a firm mass that holds together while frying.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, vinegar, pepper, egg, butter, cream):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, vinegar, pepper, egg, butter, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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