Lamb Sweetbreads

The page has been scrambled in printing — the ingredient column and the method column have run into each other line by line, so the instructions call for eggs, cream, parsley, onion and stock that never appear in the list above. Read it as a standard stewed sweetbread with an egg-and-cream liaison and it makes sense.

• Read the scrambleThe passage beginning "Sim cold water" is two columns collided: it should read "simmer ten minutes; take out and put in cold water. Now lard them, lay in stew pan, add the stock, seasoning, mace, onions, and a thickening of the butter substitute and flour." Nothing is missing from the method, only interleaved.
• The unlisted ingredientsThe page gives no quantities at all; as a working guess, roughly 1 cup stock, 1 small onion, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup cream and a tablespoon of chopped parsley for a pound of sweetbreads. The printed list runs only to the fat, flour, seasonings and the boiled asparagus tips.
• Butter substitute and barley flourBoth are wartime economy ingredients. Butter substitute means oleomargarine or a vegetable shortening; barley flour was pushed as a wheat saver. Ordinary butter and all-purpose flour give a better roux, though barley flour thickens perfectly well and tastes faintly nutty.
• Soaking and blanching are not optionalThe lukewarm soak draws out blood, the ten-minute simmer firms the gland, and the plunge into cold water sets it so the membrane can be peeled. Skip any step and the sweetbreads stay soft and grey. Press them under a plate for an hour after chilling if you want neat slices.
• LardingThreading strips of pork fat through the meat with a larding needle. Sweetbreads are lean and this kept them moist. Wrapping in a thin sheet of bacon or simply omitting it works; the stewing liquid does most of the protecting.
• The hingeOnce the beaten egg and cream go in, the pan must never boil — the original says so and it is the whole difficulty of the dish. Hold it below a simmer, stir constantly, and pull it off the heat the moment it coats the spoon.
• Mace and nutmegBoth come from the same fruit, mace being the lacy aril around the nutmeg seed. Using both is deliberate: mace in the stewing liquid, a scrape of nutmeg in the cream at the end. Use them lightly or they overwhelm a delicate gland.
• YieldThe page gives no yield. A pound of lamb sweetbreads would serve about three as a light main course, or four as an entrée in the old sense, a small course before the roast. The original directs only that the asparagus tips be added before serving; toast or pastry cases are a modern suggestion.