Sweetbreads Studded, Spanish Style

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a stockpot always going, and this dish leans on four cross-references. Stripped down, it is blanched sweetbreads studded with truffle, braised in aromatic stock, pressed flat, glazed, and served with two sauces.

• The hinge: press them coldThe linen wrapping and the light weight are what give the sweetbreads their firm, sliceable texture and even oval shape. Skip the pressing and you get a floppy, uneven piece of meat that will not hold a glaze. Chill them fully under weight, ideally several hours or overnight.
• Sweetbreads, and which onesThe recipe means veal sweetbreads. Butchers distinguish the rounder "heart" or kernel sweetbread from the elongated throat one, and the heart lobe is the one to ask for. Eight medium ones come to something in the region of 3 to 4 lb; they should be soaked in several changes of cold water to draw the blood, then blanched and trimmed of membrane before studding.
• "Studded" (cloutes)Cut truffle into small batons and insert them into the blanched sweetbread with the point of a larding needle or a thin knife, evenly spaced, the way one studs a ham with cloves. Black truffle is what is wanted, fresh or good preserved; canned peelings are too small and ragged to stud with.
• Mirepoix stock, No. 419This is a braising liquid, not a modern raw mirepoix: veal stock cooked down with diced carrot, onion, celery, ham or bacon trimmings, herbs and a little white wine or Madeira. A well-seasoned veal or brown chicken stock with those aromatics simmered in it gives the same result.
• Half-glaze and the oven doorReducing the cooking stock "to a half-glaze" means taking it down until it is syrupy and coats a spoon. "Warm at the oven door" is a holding and glazing step in a coal range, not cooking: a very low oven, in the region of 200 to 250F, with basting every few minutes until the surface is lacquered, is a reasonable modern stand-in.
• Prepared red pepper, No. 168Ranhofer keys this to a separate preparation of red pepper rather than to the spice straight from the tin. Plain cayenne, added sparingly to the finished bechamel, does much the same job; the sauce should be gently warm on the palate, not hot.
• Espagnole sauceNo. 414 is the classic brown sauce built on a brown roux and veal stock, simmered for hours. A modern reduced veal demi-glace, thinned with the reserved braising stock and finished with sliced stuffed green olives, stands in for it honestly.
• The rice foundationA socle: firmly cooked short-grain rice, packed into an oiled oblong pan, chilled until set, then cut out as a platter base. It is structural and largely decorative. A shallow oval gratin dish or a plain bed of pilaf serves the same purpose with less work.
• QuenellesSmall poached dumplings of veal or chicken forcemeat, piped with a spoon or two teaspoons and poached in barely simmering stock until just firm, about 5 minutes. They should be made and poached the day of service.