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Rissoles of Sweetbreads

A dish of sweetbread rissoles simmered in a veal and mushroom sauce, coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Rissoles of Sweetbreads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Boil the sweetbreads for 1 hour until tender.

  2. Let them cool and chop finely.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine minced veal, mushrooms, ketchup, and butter, stirring to prevent burning.

  2. Dredge the mixture in flour.

  3. Add broth and cream.

  4. Stir until it boils and thickens.

  5. Strain the mixture.

  6. Use some to moisten the chopped sweetbreads.

  7. Boil for 3-4 minutes.

Shape and coat

  1. Once cooled, form the mixture into small balls.

  2. Roll the balls in bread crumbs.

  3. Dip the balls in beaten egg.

  4. Roll the balls in bread crumbs again.

  5. Refrigerate until needed.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the balls in boiling lard until golden brown.

  2. Serve in a napkin with sauce on the side.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  4. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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
Provide the main tender, rich meat that forms the centre of each rissole.
Minced veal
Adds body and a firm, savoury texture to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce that holds the mixture together.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the filling and thickening the sauce.
Egg
Binds the bread crumb coating so it adheres and browns evenly in the fat.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour to the filling as it cooks.

The step that matters

Stir the filling as it thickens. Flour thickens liquid only when it is stirred evenly while heating. Without constant stirring, the flour can clump or scorch on the base of the pan, leaving a lumpy, burnt-tasting filling that will not hold its shape.

“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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