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Sweetbreads in Pepper Cases
1 cup cooked sweetbreads 6 peppers 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour Crums 1/2 cup brown or white stock (preferably chicken) 2 tablespoons cream 1/2 cup button mushrooms Worcestershire sauce Salt, pepper and paprika Prepare the sweetbreads. Melt fat, add flour, salt and pepper. Mix smooth, add stock and cream. Cook until thick. Stir in the sweetbreads and mushrooms cut into small pieces and the seasoning. Fill prepared peppers, cover with buttered crums and bake. Mushroom sauce may be poured around the peppers.
A stuffed-pepper entree built on a thick veal-stock veloute, written for cooks who already knew how to handle sweetbreads. Two steps are assumed rather than explained: the sweetbreads and the pepper shells both need preparation before they reach the sauce.
- Preparing the sweetbreadsThe book takes this as known. Soak them in several changes of cold water for an hour or two until pale, simmer 15-20 minutes in acidulated salted water, plunge into ice water, then peel away the membrane and any tubes before dicing. Veal sweetbreads are the standard; order them from a butcher, as supermarkets rarely stock them.
- Preparing the peppersCut off the tops, remove seeds and ribs, and parboil the shells 3-5 minutes so they soften in step with the filling. Undrained shells will water down the sauce, so invert them to drain before filling.
- CrumsSimply crumbs. Toss fresh soft breadcrumbs with about a tablespoon of melted butter per cup so they brown rather than dry out.
- OvenThe original gives none. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, until the peppers are tender and the crumb topping is browned.
- Button mushroomsCanned button mushrooms, already cooked, were widely used in American home cooking of this era and may well be what is meant; the recipe does not specify. If using fresh, saute them in a little butter first and let their liquid evaporate, or the sauce will thin out.
- The sauce consistencyTwo tablespoons each of butter and flour to roughly five-eighths of a cup of liquid (1/2 cup stock plus 2 tablespoons cream) gives a very thick binding sauce. That is deliberate: it must hold the filling together in the pepper. Cook it two or three minutes after it thickens to lose the raw flour taste.
- Worcestershire and paprikaNo quantity is given. Half a teaspoon of Worcestershire and a generous pinch of paprika suit this volume; add both at the end and taste, since the stock and sweetbreads carry their own salt.
- YieldSix filled peppers, one per person as a light main course or a first course. The mushroom sauce poured around is optional and makes it a plated entree rather than a supper dish.