It is usually necessary to bespeak sweetbreads several days in advance, as they are both scarce and popular. But if your butcher be accommodating, and yourself a valued customer, there is seldom much difficulty in procuring enough to make a dish for a family of ordinary size.

Keep sweetbreads in a cold, dry place, and cook as soon as possible after getting them, as they soon spoil. Be careful, moreover, in cooking them, to see that they are thoroughly done.

Brown Fricassee of Sweetbreads. (No. 1.) Maltese cross

4 sweetbreads.

2 cups brown veal gravy, strong and well-seasoned.

4 table-spoonfuls of butter.

Pinch of mace, and twice as much cloves.

Browned flour for thickening.

1 teaspoonful chopped onion, stewed in, and then strained out of the gravy.

Wash the sweetbreads carefully in warm water, removing every bit of skin and gristle. Lay them in a saucepan, and cover with boiling water. Boil them ten minutes hard, turn off the hot water, and plunge them instantly into very cold, in which you have dissolved a little salt. Leave them in this about fifteen minutes, or until they are cool, white and firm. Cut each crosswise into slices nearly half an inch thick. Have ready the butter in the frying-pan, and fry the slices, turning frequently, until they are a good brown, but do not dry them up. Drain off the fat through a cullender, lay the sliced sweetbreads within a saucepan, pour the hot brown gravy, already seasoned, over them, cover closely, and simmer, not boil, fifteen minutes longer.

Brown Fricassee. (No. 2.) Maltese cross

4 sweetbreads.

2 cups good brown gravy—veal is best. Spice with mace and cloves.

1 onion.

½ cup butter.

1 pint mushrooms.

Prepare the sweetbreads by boiling and blanching as in previous receipt. Slice the onion and mushrooms, and fry quickly to a fine brown in half the butter. Strain the fat from these, and return it to the frying-pan, adding the rest of the butter. When hissing hot, put in the sliced sweetbreads. Turn over and over in the fat for three minutes. Meanwhile, let the fried onions and mushrooms be stewing in the gravy. Pour this gravy, when the sweetbreads are ready, into a jar or tin pail with a closely-fitting top; set it in a pot of boiling water, taking care there is not enough to bubble over the top, put in the sliced sweetbreads, cover, and stew gently at the side of the range for twenty minutes—half an hour, should the sweetbreads be large. Arrange the slices symmetrically upon a hot platter, pour the gravy over them, when you have added a thickening of browned flour, and serve.

There is no more palatable preparation of sweetbreads than this, especially if you add to the gravy a glass of brown sherry. Garnish with triangles of fried bread.

White Fricassee of Sweetbreads. Maltese cross

3 fine sweetbreads.

3 eggs.

4 table-spoonfuls of cream.

1 great spoonful of butter.

1 teaspoonful chopped parsley.

A good pinch of nutmeg.

1 cup strong veal or lamb broth—never mutton.

Wash the sweetbreads well. Soak them in very cold or ice-water, slightly salted, for half an hour. Blanch by plunging them for an instant into boiling water, after which lay for five minutes in ice-water. This process makes them white and firm. Put them into a covered saucepan with the broth, which must be well seasoned with pepper and salt, and, if you like, a very slight touch of onion. Sprinkle with nutmeg, cover closely, and stew steadily for an hour, if the sweetbreads are of a fair size, and you mean to serve them whole. If they have been sliced, three-quarters of an hour is sufficient.

Heat the cream in another saucepan until scalding hot, but not boiling. Take it from the fire, and stir carefully, a little at a time, into the beaten eggs. Just before the sweetbreads are taken from the fire, add this mixture slowly, stirring all the time. Leave it in the saucepan just long enough to cook the eggs, but do not let it boil. Stir in the parsley at the same time. Turn out in a hot covered dish.

Larded Sweetbreads Stewed.

3 fine sweetbreads.

¼ pound fat salt pork, cut into long narrow strips.

1 cup good veal gravy.

1 small pinch of cayenne pepper.

1 table-spoonful of mushroom catsup.

Juice of half a lemon.

Parboil the sweetbreads for five minutes. The water should be boiling when they are put in. Plunge immediately into very cold salt water. Let them lie in this for five minutes, wipe them dry with a soft, clean cloth, and lay upon a cool dish until perfectly cold. Lard them closely with the strips of salt pork. Stew gently for twenty-five minutes in the gravy, which must be rich and thick. Add lemon-juice, catsup, cayenne, and, if needed, a little salt. Lay the sweetbreads in order on a flat dish, pour the gravy over them, and garnish with sliced lemon laid in the triangular spaces left between three-cornered bits of fried toast.

N.B. A pleasant addition to this dish, as to the brown fricassee of sweetbreads, is force-meat of chopped beef or veal very finely minced and worked to a paste with hard-boiled yolk of egg, a little crumbed bread, a spoonful or two of gravy or butter. Season very highly, work in the beaten yolk of a raw egg to bind the mixture, and make into oval balls a little larger than olives. Flour these, and lay on a floured plate, so as not to touch one another. Set in a quick oven until they are firm and hissing hot, garnish the dish with them instead of the sliced lemon, and pour the hot gravy over them and the triangles of toast as well as the sweetbreads. An outer circle of parsley looks well with these.

Larded Sweetbread—Fried. Maltese cross

3 or 4 sweetbreads.

4 or 5 slices very fat salt pork.

A little pepper.

Parboil, blanch and lard, as in preceding receipt. Have ready a clean, hot frying-pan barely greased with a little butter. Put in the sweetbreads, and fry without other fat than that of the pork lardoons which should project half an inch on each side of the sweetbreads. Cook steadily, turning the sweetbreads frequently, until they are of a nice brown. Cut into one with a small sharp knife, to assure yourself that it is done. Remove to a hot, well-buttered dish, and garnish with sprigs of parsley, which have been crisped, but not burned, in a little boiling butter.

Broiled Sweetbreads. Maltese cross

Parboil and blanch, as already directed, by putting first into hot water, and keeping it at a fast boil for five minutes, then plunging into ice-cold, a little salted. When the sweetbreads have lain in this ten minutes, wipe them very dry, and with a sharp knife split each in half, lengthwise. Broil over a clear, hot fire, turning every minute as they begin to drip. Have ready upon a deep plate some melted butter, well salted and peppered, mixed with catsup or pungent sauce. When the sweetbreads are done to a fine brown lay them in this, turning them over several times, and set, covered, in a warm oven.

Lay rounds of fried bread or toast within a chafing-dish, and a piece of sweetbread on each. Pour the rest of the hot butter, in which they have been lying, over them, and send to table.

Roasted Sweetbreads.

3 sweetbreads.

1 cup brown gravy—veal, if you can get it.

2 eggs, beaten light.

2 table-spoonfuls of butter, melted.

Large handful of bread-crumbs.

1 table-spoonful mushroom or tomato catsup.

1 small glass brown sherry.

A very little onion, minced fine, and stewed in the gravy.

Soak the sweetbreads in tepid water for half an hour; then boil in hot water ten minutes, plunging into very cold at the end of this time. Wipe perfectly dry, coat with the beaten egg, then with the bread-crumbs. Repeat this until they are thickly and closely covered. Lay upon a baking-pan, put the butter, a little at a time, over them, that it may soak into the crumbs; set in a moderate oven, turn another pan over them, and bake, covered, three-quarters of an hour, if of fair size, basting from time to time with the veal gravy. Dish them upon toast or fried bread, give the gravy a boil-up when you have added the catsup and wine, and strain it over the sweetbreads.

Sweetbreads SautÉs au Vin. Maltese cross

3 sweetbreads.

1 table-spoonful of butter.

1 table-spoonful chopped onion and parsley, mixed.

1 cup brown gravy—veal or fowl.

1 glass brown sherry or fresh champagne.

Salt and pepper to taste.

1 table-spoonful mushroom, or tomato catsup.

Parboil and blanch the sweetbreads, as usual; let them get perfectly cold; cut lengthwise into slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Have the butter hot in a frying-pan, and lay them in. Cook ten minutes, shaking, tossing and turning them all the while; then add the gravy, catsup, onion, parsley and other seasoning previously heated together. Shake all until they have stewed and bubbled at boiling-heat for five minutes, put in the wine, boil up once, and pour into a hot dish.

KIDNEYS,

Although less liked generally, are yet esteemed a bonne bouche by the epicure whose appetite has been educated by what is commonly styled “fancy” cookery. They are cheaper than sweetbreads, and less difficult to keep, if less delicate in flavor.

Fried Kidneys.

3 fine large kidneys—the fresher the better.

3 table-spoonfuls of butter.

½ cup of good brown gravy—veal, mutton or beef.

A teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and half as much minced onion.

Pepper and salt to taste.

Skin the kidneys, and cut crosswise into round slices a quarter of an inch thick. Roll them in flour. Have ready in a frying-pan the butter well seasoned with pepper, a little salt, the parsley and onion. When it begins to simmer over the fire, lay in evenly and carefully the slices of kidney. Fry gently for two minutes, turn, and let them fry as long on the other side, or until they are of a light brown. If cooked too much, or too fast, they become tough and tasteless. Remove instantly from the frying-pan with an egg-beater or perforated skimmer, and arrange in order on a hot dish. Add to the gravy in the pan, a few tablespoonfuls of broth, thicken with browned flour, boil up once, and pour over the kidneys.

Or,

You can substitute for the butter in the pan three or four table-spoonfuls of chopped fat salt pork. Let it heat to hissing, put in the seasoning, stir up well and fry the kidneys with the bits of pork. Then, proceed according to the latter part of the foregoing receipt.

Toasted Kidneys.

3 kidneys skinned and split lengthwise, each into 3 pieces.

¼ pound of fat salt pork, cut into slices.

Pepper and salt.

Slices or rounds of toasted bread from which the crust has been pared.

Lay the kidneys upon a very hot plate (a tin one is best) in front of, and on a level with a clear brisk fire. Toast the pork upon a fork, slice by slice, holding it so that the gravy will drip upon the kidneys beneath. When the pork is done, lay it upon another hot plate, and set this in the place just occupied by the kidneys. Toast these in their turn, so that the gravy which falls from them shall drop upon the pork. Turn them frequently, and be careful not to lose a drop of the gravy from kidneys or pork. When the gravy ceases to flow the kidneys are done. Serve upon the toast on a hot dish; cut the pork into strips, and lay along the sides of the dish. Pour the gravy over kidneys and toast. This latter should either be fried previously in butter, or be well buttered if toasted in the usual way. Pepper and salt just before sending to table, as salt hardens and toughens the kidneys.

Kidneys Stewed with Wine.

3 kidneys.

3 table-spoonfuls of butter.

1 onion, minced.

1 table-spoonful mushroom, or walnut catsup.

3 table-spoonfuls rich brown gravy.

1 glass of claret.

Pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the kidneys into round slices. Heat the butter to a boil in a frying-pan, stir in the chopped onion, then lay in the slices of kidney, and fry two minutes. Have in another vessel the gravy, catsup and wine, ready heated. Take up the kidneys, draining from them every drop of fat, and transfer to this gravy. Cover closely, stew gently for five minutes, or until tender, and serve directly.

Broiled Kidneys.

2 kidneys.

2 table-spoonfuls of melted butter.

Pepper and salt, and a little chopped parsley.

Skin the kidneys carefully, but do not slice or split them. Lay for ten minutes in warm (not hot) melted butter, rolling them over and over, that every part may be well basted. Broil on a gridiron over a clear fire, turning them every minute. They should be done in about twelve minutes, unless very large. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay on a hot dish, with a bit of butter upon each. Cover and send up immediately.

Stewed Kidneys.

3 kidneys.

3 table-spoonfuls melted butter.

Juice of half a lemon, and a pinch of grated lemon-peel.

A very little mace, and pepper and salt to taste.

1 teaspoonful chopped onion.

1 cup good brown gravy.

Cut each kidney lengthwise into three pieces; wash these well and wipe dry. Warm the butter in a frying-pan; put in the kidneys before this is really hot, with the seasoning and gravy. Simmer all together, closely covered, about ten minutes. Add the lemon-juice; take up the kidneys and lay upon a hot dish, with fried or toasted bread underneath. Thicken the gravy with browned flour, boil up once, pour over all, and serve.

Kidneys À la Brochette.

4 kidneys—those of medium size are preferable to large.

2 great spoonfuls of butter.

1 great spoonful chopped parsley, onion, and very fine bread-crumbs.

Juice of half a lemon.

Pepper and salt to taste.

Split the kidneys lengthwise, but not quite through, leaving enough meat and skin at one side to act as a sort of hinge. Rub them well inside with melted butter, and lay them open, as you would small birds, the back downward, upon a buttered gridiron, over a bright fire. They should be done in about eight minutes. Turn often while broiling. Have ready the stuffing of crumbs, parsley, onion, and butter, well seasoned. Heat in a saucepan, stirring until smoking hot. Add the lemon-juice; dish the kidneys, put some of this mixture inside of each, close the two sides upon it, butter and pepper them, and serve.

A few bits of fat salt pork, minced very fine, gives a good flavor to the stuffing. The pork should have been previously cooked.

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