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Calf's Sweetbreads, Braised
Take two good sweetbreads, cut off the root, and let them soak two or three hours in cold water, then blanch them and put them in fresh water to cool; press them well and place them on a clean cloth, another on top, with a small weight to hold it in place. Let them remain like this for several hours, then trim them, lard them with strips of fat bacon, and stew them as follows. Make a foundation of slices of carrots and onions in a flat saucepan. Put the sweetbreads on this, with the parings in the spaces between, and a bouquet garni. Close the lid of the saucepan tightly, and place it at the side of the fire to cook slowly. When the sweetbreads begin to brown, moisten them with a little white wine; let this reduce, then put in some gravy, thickened with arrowroot, to half cover them. Place a sheet of buttered paper or a strip of fat bacon on top, and cover again. When half done turn the sweetbreads over. When nearly finished take off the paper, place the larded part of the sweetbreads uppermost, and put the saucepan in the oven without its lid; baste with the gravy while it browns. Take out the sweetbreads, cut them in slices aslant, and garnish with spinach. Glaze with a little of the reduced sauce, and send remainder to table in a sauce boat.
A classic braise that depends almost entirely on the preparation before any heat is applied. The soaking, blanching and pressing are not optional refinements; they are what gives the finished sweetbread its firm, sliceable texture.
- What you are buyingCalf's sweetbreads are sold as the round "heart" or "kernel" (the pancreas) and the looser "throat" portion (the thymus). Order from a butcher in advance and ask for heart breads; the two called for here will serve four.
- The soak and the blanchCold water for two to three hours draws out blood, changed once or twice. Blanching means bringing them from cold water to a bare simmer for about 3 minutes, then plunging into cold water; boiling hard makes them swell and toughen.
- PressingBetween two cloths under a plate with a light weight on top (the recipe says a small weight) for several hours; refrigerate them if held that long. Pressing compacts them so that they trim cleanly and cut into neat slanting slices later.
- LardingThreading strips of fat bacon or pork back fat through the surface with a larding needle. If you have no needle, lay thin strips of unsmoked fat bacon over the top instead; the point is basting fat and a browned surface, not decoration.
- "A flat saucepan"A wide, shallow braising pan or sauté pan with a lid, just large enough to hold the sweetbreads in one layer. The carrot and onion slices are a bed to keep them off the metal and to flavour the liquid.
- "At the side of the fire"The cool edge of a range top. On a modern hob this is the lowest setting, or a low oven with the lid on; the recipe gives no temperature. The sweetbreads should sweat and colour gently, not fry.
- Gravy and arrowroot"Gravy" here means a rich brown veal or chicken stock, not drippings from a roast. Arrowroot gives a clear glossy sauce and loses body if boiled hard; note that in this recipe it is slaked into the gravy before that liquid goes into the pan.
- The finishUncovered in a hot oven for the last stage, basting every few minutes, until the larded surface is glazed and brown. The recipe gives neither a temperature nor any timings.
- SpinachSpinach cooked down in butter and well drained, or a purée, was a common period garnish for sweetbreads, though far from the only one. It is there to cut the richness, so keep it plain.
Sweetbreads occupied a peculiarly high place in nineteenth-century cookery: expensive, delicate, and considered suitable for invalids as well as for grand entrées, they appear in several forms — braised, larded, in cases, with peas, in vol-au-vent. The word has nothing to do with bread or sweetness; it is generally, though not certainly, traced to an older sense of "bread" meaning a morsel or piece of flesh, the force of "sweet" being unclear. The technique set out here is textbook French braising as taught in English kitchens of the period: a bed of aromatic vegetables, a tightly closed pan set at the side of the range, a moistening of wine reduced before stock is added, and a final uncovered glazing.