Sweetbread Ragout

A terse Victorian entry that assumes you already have sweetbreads prepared and know what a ragout gravy should be. The numbered instruction picks up from the preceding entry, so the preliminary work is left unstated.

• Prepare the sweetbreads firstThe recipe gives only "wash and dry", but most period and modern handling adds more: soaking in several changes of cold water for an hour or two to draw out blood, a brief blanch (5-8 minutes in barely simmering water), a plunge into cold water, and peeling of the outer membrane. Pressing under a weighted plate for an hour firms them for cutting.
• Veal or lamb"Sweetbread" in this period means the thymus of a calf, sometimes the pancreas (the "stomach sweetbread"). Veal heart sweetbreads are the prize and must usually be ordered from a butcher; lamb sweetbreads are smaller and cook faster.
• Walnut-sized piecesAbout 1 to 1 1/2 inches. The recipe cuts first, then washes and dries; if you blanch and press beforehand instead, cut afterwards, as pressed pieces hold together better.
• FryingDry the pieces thoroughly and fry in clarified butter or a butter-oil mix over fairly brisk heat until well browned, 3-4 minutes. If they have been blanched they are part-cooked already and this stage is largely for colour and crust; they finish in the gravy either way.
• "A good gravy"A well-reduced brown veal or chicken stock, about 3/4 to 1 cup for 1 lb of sweetbreads. Allspice here is a single berry or two, or a pinch of ground: it should sit behind the mushroom, not announce itself.
• Mushroom ketchupNot tomato ketchup but a thin, dark, salty mushroom extract, still sold by some British grocers. A tablespoon of mushroom soy or a spoonful of soaked-dried-mushroom liquor with a dash of soy gives a comparable savoury depth. Reduce added salt if you use a substitute.
• Strain, then thickenThe order matters. Lift the sweetbreads out and strain the gravy to remove the whole spice and any solids, then thicken off the heat with butter kneaded into flour (equal weights, roughly 1 tablespoon each), whisked in and simmered a minute. Return the sweetbreads only to warm through.
• Truffles and morelsDried morels want a 20-minute soak in warm water; use the strained soaking liquid in the gravy. The recipe adds truffle to the ragout itself, though a shaving at the end is the more common modern handling.
• YieldA pound of prepared sweetbreads serves four as a first course, two or three as a main with rice, toast or plain boiled potatoes.