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To Broil Sweetbreads

Broiled sweetbreads served with a sauce of butter, flour, pepper, salt, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

To Broil Sweetbreads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Split the sweetbreads in half with a sharp knife.

  2. Lay them on a grill and broil for about 3 minutes on each side.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine hot water, butter, flour, pepper, coarse sea salt, and cream.

  2. Stir the mixture and bring it to a boil.

  3. Pour the sauce over the broiled sweetbreads.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
The main protein; splitting and broiling gives it a browned exterior while the interior stays tender.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the sauce and carries flavour.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as it heats with the liquid.
Cream
Adds body, richness and a smooth texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Bringing the sauce to a boil. Flour needs to be heated fully with the liquid so it thickens and loses its raw starchy taste. Stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps from forming.

“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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