Sweetbreads an Montpellier
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sweetbreads
Soak sweetbreads in salt water for 1 hour.
Parboil sweetbreads.
Cool sweetbreads under slight pressure between two plates.
Cut sweetbreads into cutlet shapes.
Assemble the platter
Dip each cutlet in firm aspic jelly.
Chop hard, cold aspic roughly.
Form a circle of chopped aspic on a serving plate.
Arrange cutlets on the circle.
Fill the center with asparagus heads.
Pour mayonnaise around the cutlets.
Garnish with alternating shapes of red and white aspic.
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
What each ingredient does
- Sweetbreads
- Provide the tender, delicate meat that forms the main body of the dish.
- Firm aspic jelly
- Sets into a clear, cool coating around each cutlet and holds the chopped aspic base together.
- Asparagus heads
- Add a tender vegetable texture and fresh, green flavour at the centre of the platter.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds richness and fat that complements the mild sweetbreads and the cold aspic.
The step that matters
Cool sweetbreads under slight pressure between two plates. Gentle pressure while cooling squeezes out moisture and firms the meat, so the cutlets hold their shape when cut and coated. Pressing too hard would make them dense and dry.
“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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