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Sweetbreads, Bercy

Soak six heart sweetbreads in plenty of fresh water for two hours; drain. Then plunge the sweetbreads in two quarts of boiling water with a teaspoon of salt for five minutes. Drain, then place in cold water for five minutes; drain well again. Lard their surfaces with six thin strips of larding pork. Finely slice half a carrot, half an onion, two branches of parsley, one branch of celery and one leek. Place all the vegetables at the bottom of a frying pan, adding all the skin and parings of the piece of pork cut out for the larding strips. Arrange the sweetbreads over the vegetables. Season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper; add a tablespoon melted butter to the pan, place on the fire for six minutes; moisten with one gill white broth, one gill white wine and one gill of demi-glace. Cover the breads with a piece of buttered paper, then set in the oven for thirty minutes. Remove, lift them up, lay over six small, round toasts and keep warm. Place in a small saucepan one small, finely chopped onion with a level tablespoon butter and fry for five minutes. Strain the sweetbreads gravy into this, skim the fat from the surface and add half teaspoon freshly chopped chives; reduce the sauce on the fire to one gill and take off the fire. Squeeze in the juice of one-quarter lemon, add half ounce butter, little by little, pour sauce over sweetbreads and serve.