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Sweetbreads and Ham Under Glass

A baked casserole of sweetbreads, ham, toasted bread, paprika, butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,199 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells apple, fatty. The science ↓

Sweetbreads and Ham Under Glass

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 sweetbreads

  1. Parboil the sweetbreads.

  2. Fry the sweetbreads in butter.

Assemble the toast

  1. Spread the toasted bread with Parmesan cheese.

  2. Season the bread with salt and paprika.

  3. Moisten the bread with heavy cream.

  4. Broil the slices of ham for a few minutes.

  5. Place a slice of ham on each piece of toast.

  6. Cover the toast with sweetbreads.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the assembled pieces in individual dishes.

  2. Add two tablespoons of cream to each dish.

  3. Garnish each dish with sautéed mushroom cups.

  4. Cover the dishes with glass bells.

  5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 8 minutes.

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. Parmesan cheese + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  4. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Provide the tender, rich meat that forms the main body of the dish.
Sliced boiled ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and a meaty layer on the toast.
Heavy cream
Moistens the bread and adds richness and a silky texture.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and browning when heated.
Butter
Adds fat for frying the sweetbreads, contributing browning and rich flavor.

The step that matters

Parboil the sweetbreads. Parboiling firms the sweetbreads and sets their texture before frying, so they brown well and do not turn mushy or greasy during cooking.

“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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