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
Remove all tough parts from the sweetbreads.
Soak the sweetbreads in cold water overnight.
Wash the sweetbreads in the morning.
Place the sweetbreads in cold water over heat.
Once the sweetbreads boil, pour off the water.
Add more cold water to the pot.
Let the sweetbreads simmer for 30 minutes.
Add ½ tablespoon of salt 10 minutes before removing from heat.
Drain the sweetbreads and cool them in cold water.
Remove the thin membrane from each section of sweetbreads.
Slice the sweetbreads.
Fry and make the tomato sauce
Fry the sliced sweetbreads in butter or drippings until golden brown.
Pare and chop the tomatoes.
Cook the tomatoes in the same butter until they break down.
Season the tomatoes with ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and a pinch of cloves.
When the tomatoes are smooth, stir in 1 teaspoon of butter rolled in flour.
Combine and serve
Add the sweetbreads to the tomatoes.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
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 tender, delicate meat that is the main component of the dish.
- Tomatoes
- Break down into the body of the sauce, adding acidity and moisture.
- Butter or drippings
- Fry the sweetbreads to golden brown and carry flavor into the tomatoes.
- Flour
- Thickens the tomato sauce when cooked with butter.
The step that matters
Simmering the sweetbreads after parboiling. Sweetbreads are delicate; boiling them hard or for too long toughens and firms the tissue. Gentle simmering keeps them tender before they are cooled, peeled of membrane, and fried.
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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