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Epigramme of Sweetbreads

Sweetbreads cut into scallops, some breaded and fried, some simmered, served with tongue and mushrooms in béchamel sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Epigramme of Sweetbreads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Soak the sweetbreads in water for several hours, changing the water frequently until they are free from redness.

  2. Scald the sweetbreads in boiling water for 5 minutes.

  3. Cool the sweetbreads in fresh water.

  4. Press the sweetbreads between two dishes to flatten them.

  5. Braise one sweetbread in white broth until done.

  6. Cool the braised sweetbread and cut it into small circular scollops.

  7. Cut the remaining sweetbreads into oval scollops, ¼ inch thick.

Cook and glaze the scollops

  1. Bread-crumb half of the scollops by dipping them first in beaten egg, then in clarified butter.

  2. In a sauté pan, fry the breaded scollops until light brown.

  3. Simmer the other scollops in clarified butter to keep them white.

  4. Glaze the fried scollops.

  5. Toss the simmered scollops in a little béchamel sauce.

Plate and serve

  1. Arrange the scollops alternately on a plate.

  2. Fill the center with the small scollops of tongue and mushrooms warmed in béchamel sauce.

  3. Pour some béchamel sauce around the base before serving.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Their tender, delicate texture is the main element of the dish once cooked.
Red tongue
Adds a firm, meaty texture to the centre of the plate.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a soft, tender texture alongside the tongue.
Eggs
Bind the bread crumbs to the scollops so the coating holds during frying.
Clarified butter
Fat for frying that browns the breaded scollops and keeps the simmered ones white.

The step that matters

Simmer the scollops in clarified butter to keep them white. Sweetbreads discolour and toughen when overheated, so gentle simmering in fat keeps them pale and tender rather than browned or dry.

“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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