Why it works: Butter and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,645 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Sweetbreads
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the sweetbreads thoroughly and remove any strings and fibers.
Cook
Place the sweetbreads in a chafing dish with butter and bacon.
Turn the sweetbreads in the butter until slightly browned.
Baste generously with sherry wine.
Add strong stock or meat jelly, salt, and pepper.
When the sauce boils, stir in cornstarch dissolved in cold stock.
Serve
Serve with the bits of bacon.
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.
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Butter + meattop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Pepper + winetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,066 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweetbreads
- The main protein, which becomes tender after boiling and then gains color from browning in butter.
- Butter
- Carries browning in the pan and adds richness and flavor to the sweetbreads.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce when it is stirred into boiling liquid.
- Sherry wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that balance the richness of the butter and stock.
The step that matters
Stir cornstarch into a boiling sauce. Cornstarch thickens only when it reaches a boil after being dispersed in cold liquid. Adding it to hot liquid without first dissolving it in cold stock can cause lumps, so it must be mixed smoothly and the sauce kept boiling while it thickens.
“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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