Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Sweetbreads in Tomato
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sweetbreads
Soak sweetbreads in cold water overnight.
In the morning, wash the sweetbreads and place them in cold water over heat.
Once the water boils, pour it off and add more water; simmer the sweetbreads for 30 minutes.
Ten minutes before removing the sweetbreads from the heat, add salt; then drain and cool them in cold water.
Remove the thin membrane from each sweetbread.
Make the tomato sauce
Slice the sweetbreads and fry them in butter until golden brown.
Pare and chop the tomatoes, then cook them in the same butter until soft.
Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper, and cloves; cook until smooth.
Combine and serve
Stir in the flour-coated butter, then add the sweetbreads to the tomatoes.
Boil the mixture once and serve.
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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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Clove + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 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
- Calf's sweetbreads
- Provide the main meat, becoming tender and delicate when simmered and then fried.
- Butter
- Fries the sweetbreads to golden brown and carries the flavour into the tomatoes.
- Tomatoes
- Cook down to a soft, smooth sauce that gives the dish its moisture and acidity.
- Flour-rolled butter
- Thickens the tomato sauce as it melts into the mixture.
The step that matters
Simmering the sweetbreads gently. Sweetbreads turn firm and rubbery if they boil hard, so a gentle simmer keeps them tender. Soaking and removing the thin membrane also help them stay delicate and clean-tasting.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, clove, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, clove, flour. 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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