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Small Cases of Scollops of Sweetbreads

Sweetbreads cut into scallops, sautéed with mushrooms, bacon, and herbs, served in paper cases with gravy and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Small Cases of Scollops of Sweetbreads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Blanch and parboil the sweetbreads.

  2. Cut them into small scallops.

Make the filling

  1. Chop the mushrooms, parsley, and shallots finely.

  2. Add the grated bacon and butter.

  3. Season with pepper, salt, and mace.

  4. Stew the mixture over low heat until done.

  5. Drain off the fat.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fry the paper cases in olive oil.

  2. Place the scallops in the fried paper cases.

  3. Cover with chopped herbs.

  4. Sprinkle with fried bread crumbs.

  5. Briefly place the paper cases in the oven before serving.

  6. Pour a little rich gravy and lemon juice into each case before serving.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Provide the tender, delicate meat that forms the body of the filling.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that keeps the filling moist as it stews.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the filling taste rounded and moist.
Mushrooms
Add earthy moisture and savory depth to the filling.
Fried bread crumbs
Add a crisp, golden browned topping with a contrasting texture.

The step that matters

Stew the mixture over low heat until done. Gentle heat cooks the sweetbreads through without toughening their proteins or drying out the filling, so keep the heat low and watch closely.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, parsley, shallot, butter, pepper, olive, bread):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, parsley, shallot, butter, pepper, olive, bread. 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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