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Sweetbreads Braised

Braised sweetbreads cooked with butter, stock, wine, and aromatics, finished with a thickened sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Sweetbreads Braised

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the sweetbreads as in No. 255; they may be larded or left as they are.

  2. Melt 2 oz. of butter in a saucepan.

  3. Add the sweetbreads, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  4. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, turning occasionally for even coloring.

  5. Add a little stock or gravy to deglaze the pan.

  6. Arrange the sweetbreads on a dish.

  7. Pour the sauce over the sweetbreads.

Braise and finish

  1. If larded, place the sweetbreads larded side up in a pan with 2 oz. of butter, sliced carrot, onion, thyme, laurel, parsley, salt, and 1 cup of stock.

  2. Cover the pan or place buttered paper over it and cook until moisture is reduced and sweetbreads are colored but not burnt.

  3. Moisten with 1 cup of white wine and 1 cup of stock.

  4. Cook for an additional 20 minutes.

  5. Strain the gravy.

  6. Remove grease.

  7. Thicken with a pinch of potato flour mixed in cold water.

  8. Put the sweetbreads and sauce in the oven.

  9. Baste to glaze them.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + laureltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,444 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Main protein that becomes tender and rich when cooked slowly in liquid.
Butter
Adds fat for browning and a rich flavor to the sweetbreads and sauce.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, balancing the richness.
Potato flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a glossy sauce that clings to the sweetbreads.

The step that matters

Cooking the sweetbreads until moisture is reduced but not burnt. Reducing the liquid concentrates flavor and browns the surface, but too much heat scorches the butter and proteins, giving a bitter taste. Gentle, covered cooking keeps the meat tender.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, carrot, thyme, laurel, parsley, white wine):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, carrot, thyme, laurel, parsley, white wine. 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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