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Sweetbreads in Shells
Parboil two sweetbreads, put them in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour; season with white pepper and salt and pour over a half teacúpful of white stock and three tablespoonfuls of cream; let simmer slowly for three-quarters of an hour. Take up, drain and set aside to cool. When cold, cover with thick white sauce, lay in baking shells, sprinkle with grated bread crumbs and set in the oven until a light brown and serve either hot or cold.
A late-Victorian coquille: braised sweetbreads bound in béchamel, crumbed and browned in shells. Nothing here is difficult, but sweetbreads need preparation the original assumes you already know.
- Buy the right glandSweetbreads are the thymus (and sometimes pancreas) of a calf or lamb. The heart or "kernel" sweetbread is the plump, rounded one and generally the better buy; many butchers will want a day or two of notice. Two veal sweetbreads may run anywhere from about 1 to 2 lb depending on size.
- Soak and peel before anything elseThe book's "parboil" is doing more work than it admits. Soak in several changes of cold water for a few hours until the blood runs out, blanch 3-5 minutes, then plunge into ice water and pull away the outer membrane and any tubes while still cool and firm. Skip this and the finished dish is grey and chewy.
- Press them flatA long-established technique for sweetbreads: after blanching, lay them between two plates with a weight on top and chill an hour. They cook evenly, slice cleanly and hold their shape in the shell.
- Half a teacupfulA teacup of the era ran about 5 to 6 fl oz, so half is roughly 1/3 cup. With 3 tablespoons of cream that is a scant amount of liquid for a 45-minute braise; use a tight lid and low heat, and add a splash more stock if the pan threatens to go dry.
- White stockVeal or chicken stock, unbrowned and lightly seasoned. A pale homemade chicken stock is the closest supermarket substitute; avoid dark, heavily reduced commercial demi-glace, which would defeat the point of a white dish.
- The braise is longThree-quarters of an hour suits whole, unpressed sweetbreads in a covered pan. Sliced or pressed pieces are done in 20 to 25 minutes; past that they tighten and dry. Judge by feel rather than the clock.
- Cool before saucingThe instruction to set them aside until cold is the hinge of the recipe. A thick white sauce only clings to cold, dry sweetbreads; poured over warm ones it slides off and the crumb topping sinks.
- Shells and oven"Baking shells" means scallop shells or small gratin dishes, about 1/2 cup each. The recipe gives no temperature; this is a browning, not a cooking, step, so a hot oven -- somewhere around 400-425F for 10-15 minutes -- or a few minutes under the broiler will do. The interior is already cooked through.
- YieldTwo sweetbreads fill four to six shells, enough for four as a first course or lunch dish. Serve hot; the "or cold" option reflects a period fondness for cold buffet suppers and is less appealing now that the sauce sets firm.
Sweetbreads were a luxury of the Victorian and Edwardian table, expensive because each calf yields so little and because the gland spoils quickly, which made them a mark of a good butcher and a well-run kitchen. Serving them en coquille eal or crumbed and browned in scallop shells or china ones eal was a familiar genteel treatment applied equally to oysters, crab, chicken and fish, and it let a small quantity of costly meat stretch into individual portions that looked generous. Household cookery books of the period commonly gave sweetbreads several recipes apiece, and the technique of soak, blanch, peel and press that this recipe compresses into the single word "parboil" was assumed knowledge then and is the part a modern cook has to be told. Their retreat from home cooking came later, with the decline of veal butchery and of offal generally on the middle-class table.