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Broiled Sweetbreads
Wash the sweetbreads and blanch them for five minutes in boiling water; lay them in a greased oyster broiler over a bright fire, turning frequently and brushing with butter whenever turned. When done remove carefully to a platter; season with pepper, salt and butter, and serve with peas.
A short instruction that assumes you already know how to handle sweetbreads. Most of the work is in the preparation the recipe skips over.
- Soak before you blanchSweetbreads carry blood in the tissue, which turns grey and metallic when heated. Two to three hours in several changes of cold water, or overnight in cold water in the refrigerator, draws it out and firms the flesh.
- Five minutes is for the smallest piecesThe blanch is meant to set the gland so the membrane can be pulled away. Five minutes at a bare simmer suits small heart sweetbreads; larger throat lobes need eight to ten, then a plunge into ice water. Peel off the outer membrane and fat while still damp.
- Press themThe step that makes broiling possible and that the text omits: after blanching and peeling, lay the sweetbreads between two plates with a weight on top for an hour in the refrigerator. Flattened, they cook evenly and hold together on the grill.
- Which sweetbreadButchers sell two kinds from the same calf. The round, compact heart sweetbread is the one to broil; the elongated throat piece is stringier and better braised. Either usually needs ordering in advance.
- An oyster broilerA hinged wire basket that clamped over coals and could be flipped whole. A modern equivalent is a hinged grill basket over hot charcoal, or an oven broiler with the rack about four inches from the element.
- A bright fireCoals glowing and free of smoke, roughly what a fully preheated broiler gives. The point is to colour the outside quickly; total time is about six to eight minutes with frequent turning and basting.
- Butter will burnBrushing with plain butter over that heat blackens the milk solids. Clarified butter, or butter cut with a neutral oil, gives the same richness without the bitterness.
- YieldAbout one pound of prepared sweetbreads serves three, or two as a main course. Slice on the diagonal and serve at once; they turn dense and rubbery as they cool.
Sweetbreads — the thymus and pancreas of a young calf or lamb, never anything to do with bread or sugar — were standard restaurant and household fare in America when this book was compiled, and prized for their delicacy. The name is old, recorded in English from the sixteenth century, and its origin is generally traced to bread in the sense of a morsel or piece of flesh, with sweet distinguishing the mild taste from stronger organ meats. The pairing with green peas here reflects a common habit of the period: peas were a frequent garnish for creamed, braised or broiled sweetbreads in period cookery. Falling offal consumption through the twentieth century, and the expense of handling a small gland with a lot of trim loss, moved sweetbreads out of the family kitchen and back onto restaurant lists, where they remain.