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Sweetbreads in Mint Jelly

A dish of cooked sweetbreads served in a mint-flavored gelatin jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Sweetbreads in Mint Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Soak sweetbreads in slightly salted cold water for 2 hours, changing the water 2-3 times.

  2. Remove pipes and membrane, then plunge sweetbreads into boiling salted water with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar.

  3. Simmer until tender, about 20 minutes for very fresh sweetbreads, or 45-60 minutes otherwise.

  4. Place in ice water to firm up.

Make the mint water and jelly

  1. Wash, dry, and bruise the mint, then pour 2½ cups boiling water over it.

  2. Add 1 cup sugar and steep for 5-10 minutes, then strain.

  3. Combine 2 cups of mint-water, lemon juice, and gelatin; stir until dissolved.

  4. Strain again and when it begins to set, stir in sweetbreads cut into cubes.

  5. Pour into a large mold or individual molds and refrigerate.

Serve

  1. Serve with mayonnaise or cooked dressing.

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. Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Lemon + gelatintop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  5. Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Sweetbreads
Provide the tender, mild meat that is suspended in the jelly.
Gelatin
Sets the mint liquid into a firm jelly that holds the sweetbreads.
Fresh mint
Supplies the aroma and flavour of the mint water that forms the jelly.
Sugar
Sweetens the mint water and balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the mint jelly.

The step that matters

Let the jelly begin to set before adding the sweetbreads. Gelatin sets as it cools, so if the mixture is too hot or fully set, the sweetbreads will not distribute evenly. If it is still liquid, the cubes sink or float and do not hold in place.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, gelatin):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, gelatin. 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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