Recipe no. 241 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 121.
Ingredients
- veal sweetbreads
- mushrooms
- truffle
- ham
- butter
- flour
- milk
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
- egg yolks
- lemon
- egg
- oil
- breadcrumbs
- parsley
Preparation
- Preparing the sweetbreadsCook the sweetbreads as indicated for glazed sweetbreads (recipe 238), or use leftover sweetbreads. Cut them into very small dice.
- Preparing the accompanimentsDice a handful of mushrooms (about half the volume of the sweetbreads), as much truffle and very little ham.
- Preparing the saucePlace in a saucepan a knob of butter the size of a walnut with a spoonful of flour. Give a few turns over the heat without browning it. Moisten with 2 spoonfuls of boiling milk to make a fairly thick sauce.
- CookingSeason with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Boil for half an hour. Add the sweetbreads, mushrooms, truffle and ham. Cook another quarter of an hour, stirring.
- LiaisonAdd a liaison of three egg yolks and a squeeze of lemon juice. Reduce another 2 or 3 minutes and turn out onto a dish to let cool.
- Shaping and fryingWhen the mixture is cold, divide it into small pieces the size of a walnut on a floured table. Roll into cork shapes. Dip in beaten egg with a little oil and salt. Coat in breadcrumbs. Plunge into very hot deep fat; 3 minutes are enough to cook them. Arrange on a dish with fried parsley around.
Reboul's text
Cook the sweetbreads as indicated for glazed sweetbreads, or use leftover sweetbreads, cut them into very small dice, also dice a handful of mushrooms, about half the volume of the sweetbreads, as much truffle and very little ham.
Place in a saucepan a knob of butter the size of a walnut with a spoonful of flour, give a few turns over the heat without browning it and moisten with 2 spoonfuls of boiling milk, enough to make a fairly thick sauce. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, boil for half an hour, add the sweetbreads, mushrooms, truffle, ham and cook another quarter of an hour, stirring; add a liaison of three egg yolks and a squeeze of lemon juice, reduce another 2 or 3 minutes and turn out onto a dish to cool.
When this mixture is cold, divide it into small pieces the size of a walnut on a floured table, roll them into cork shapes, dip them in beaten egg with a little oil and salt, then coat them in breadcrumbs and plunge them into very hot deep fat; 3 minutes are enough to cook them. Arrange on a dish with fried parsley around.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| gaieto | sweetbreads |
| couire | cook |
| champignoun | mushrooms |
| rabas | truffles |
| burre | butter |
| farino | flour |
| besuscla | brown too much |
| bagna | moisten |
| la | milk |
| fregiduro | deep fat, frying |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 241, page 121. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.