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‘Tourte’ of Sweetbreads

A pastry dish with veal force‑meat, sweetbreads, fine herbs, raw ham, and Madeira, baked into a dome.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

‘Tourte’ of Sweetbreads

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Prepare veal force-meat and pass it through a sieve.

  2. Add a few spoonfuls of cooked fine herbs to the force-meat.

  3. Blanch and cool the sweetbreads, then slice them thickly.

  4. In a sauté pan, melt butter and fry the sweetbreads on both sides until set.

  5. Moisten the sweetbreads with Madeira. Reduce the liquid.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread short pastry on a round baking sheet.

  2. Layer the pastry with veal force-meat.

  3. Arrange the sweetbreads and fine herbs in a dome shape, alternating with raw ham.

  4. Mask the dome with a thin layer of force-meat.

  5. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  6. Once baked, transfer to a dish.

  7. Create a circular opening on top.

Serve

  1. Garnish with mushrooms.

  2. Cover and serve.

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. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  4. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Veal + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Form the rich, tender main filling of the tourte once blanched, sliced and fried.
Veal force-meat
Forms a smooth, moist layer that binds the filling and cushions the pastry.
Short pastry
Provides the crisp, buttery crust that holds the dome together.
Raw ham
Adds savoury flavour and salty richness between the layers of sweetbreads.
Madeira
Adds sweetness and aroma when reduced onto the sweetbreads.
Butter
Browns the sweetbreads in the pan, adding flavour and a set surface.

The step that matters

Reduce the liquid after moistening the sweetbreads. Reducing the Madeira concentrates its sugars and aroma and cuts excess liquid. Left wet, it would soften the pastry and dilute the filling.

“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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