Veal sweet-breads are best. They spoil very soon. The moment they come from market, they should be put into cold water, to soak for about an hour; lard them, or rather draw a lardoon of pork through the centre of each sweet-bread, and put them into salted boiling water, or, better, stock, and let them boil about twenty minutes, or until they are thoroughly done; throw them then into cold water for only a few moments. They will now be firm and white. Remove carefully the skin and little pipes, and put them in the coolest place until ready to cook again. The simplest way to cook them is the best one, as follows:

Fried Sweet-breads.

Parboil them as just explained. Just before serving, cut them in even-sized pieces, sprinkle over pepper and salt, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot lard. They are often immersed in boiling lard, yet oftener fried in the sautÉ pan. If sautÉd, when done put them on a hot dish, turn out part of the lard from the sautÉ pan, leaving about half a tea-spoonful; pour in a cupful of milk thickened with a little flour; let it cook, stirring it constantly, and season it with pepper and salt; strain, and pour over the sweet-breads. With green pease, serve without sauce. This is the usual combination at dinner or breakfast companies, the pease in the centre of the dish, and the sweet-breads around (see cut above). Or they are often served whole with cauliflower or asparagus heads, when the cream-sauce is poured over both; or they are also nice piled in the centre of a dish, with macaroni (cooked with cheese) placed around them like a nest, and browned a little with a salamander (see cut on next page), or with a tomato-sauce in the centre of the dish, and the sweet-breads around, or with stuffed tomatoes alternating with the sweet-breads on the dish, or with mushrooms in the centre, or served on a dish made of boiled rice, called a rice casserole (see page 205), or in little rice molds called cassolettes. To make the latter, boil the rice well, then work it to a smooth paste with a spoon; fill some little buttered patty-pans with the rice, and when it is quite cold take it out, brush the cassolettes with butter on the outside, and color them a little in a hot oven; scoop out the inside, leaving the rice crust a quarter of an inch thick. Fill the cassolettes with the sweet-breads cut into pieces, and pour over each a spoonful of cream dressing; or they may be sautÉd as described, and served with a maÎtre-d’hÔtel sauce poured over.

Sweet-breads À la Milanaise.

Sweet-breads fried as in preceding receipt are placed in the centre of a hot platter. Small piped macaroni broken into two or three inch lengths is cooked with tomatoes as in receipt (see page 210), and neatly arranged in a circle around them.

Sweet-breads Larded and Braised (English Lady).

Trim all the skin and cartilage very carefully from two fine sweet-breads; lay them in cold water for an hour, and lard them; lay some slices of bacon in the bottom of a braising-pan, or any pan with a good cover (Francatelli would add also minced onions, carrots, celery, and parsley; however, they are quite good enough without); then put in sweet-breads, with slices of bacon between the pan and the sweet-breads; pour over all some stock, just high enough not to touch the larding, which must stand up free; let it simmer very gently for half or three-quarters of an hour. Look at it occasionally to see that the stock does not waste; add a little if it does. When done, hold a salamander or a hot kitchen shovel over the sweet-breads until they are a pale-yellow color on top. Serve these with tomato-sauce poured in the centre of the dish. The whole dish should look moist, the sweet-breads nearly white, and the larding transparent, standing up distinct and firm, like glass, white at the bottom, and pale-yellow on top.

Baked Sweet-breads (New York Cooking-school).

Put a pair of sweet-breads on the fire in one quart of cold water, in which are mixed one tea-spoonful of salt and one table-spoonful of vinegar. When the water boils, take them off, and throw them into cold water, leaving them until they get cold; now lard them with lardoons about one-eighth of an inch square and two inches long. Chop rather fine one-third of a medium-sized onion (one ounce), four or five slices of carrot (one and a half ounces), half a stalk of celery, and one sprig of parsley. Put in the bottom of a baking-dish trimmings of pork; on this place the sweet-breads, and sprinkle the chopped vegetables over the top; bake them twenty minutes in a hot oven. Cut a slice of bread into an oval or any fancy shape, and fry it in a sautÉ pan in a little hot butter, coloring it well; put this croÛton in the centre of a hot platter, on which place the sweet-breads. Serve pease or tomato-sauce around.

Sweet-bread Fritters.

Parboil the sweet-breads as before explained, and cut them into slices about half an inch thick; then sprinkle over them pepper and salt, a little grated nutmeg, some finely chopped parsley, and a few drops of lemon-juice; dip them each into French fritter batter (see page 229); fry them a moment in boiling-hot lard. Always test the lard before frying by putting in a piece of bread or a bit of the batter; if it turns yellow readily, it is hot enough. Drain them well; pile them on a napkin neatly arranged on a platter; garnish them with fried parsley, i. e., parsley thrown into the lard, and skimmed out almost immediately.

Sweet-bread Croquettes (New York Cooking-school).

After two pairs of sweet-breads are blanched (boiled in salted water as described), cut them into dice; cut also half a box (four ounces) of mushrooms into dice. Make a roux by putting one and a half ounces of butter into a saucepan, and when it bubbles sprinkle in two ounces of flour; mix and cook it well; then pour in a gill of strong stock or cream; when this is also mixed, add the dice, which stir over the fire until they are thoroughly heated; take them from the fire, add the beaten yolks of two eggs, which return to the fire a moment to set, without allowing to boil. When cool, form into croquettes; roll them first in cracker-crumbs, then in egg, then in cracker-crumbs again, and fry them in boiling lard.

The croquettes may be cone-shaped, with a stick of parsley or celery pressed in the top for a stem just before serving; or the sweet-bread croquettes may be made in the same manner as chicken croquettes (French cook receipt), substituting sweet-breads for the chickens. They may be served alone, or with pease, or with tomato or Bechamel sauce, etc.

Skewer of Sweet-breads.

Parboil the sweet-breads as before described; cut them into slices or scollops about half an inch or more thick; sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and egg and bread-crumb them; now run a little skewer (see page 56) through two of these slices, alternating with two thin, square slices of bacon; fry in boiling lard; serve a tomato or cream sauce in the centre, and garnish with parsley. Serve one skewerful to each person at table.