Broccoli may be thus stewed with sweetbreads.
SWEETBREAD OMELET.—
For an omelet of six or seven eggs, take two fine sweetbreads. Split them, take out the gristle, and soak them in two lukewarm waters, to extract all the blood. Then put them into very hot water, boil them ten minutes, take them out, set them away to cool, and afterwards mince them small, and season them with a very little salt and cayenne pepper, and some grated nutmeg. Beat the eggs (omitting the whites of two) till very light. Then mix in the chopped sweetbreads. Put three ounces or more of fresh butter into a small frying-pan, and place it over the fire. Stir the butter with a spoon, as it melts, and when it comes to a boil put in the mixture, stirring it awhile after it is all in. Fry it a rich brown. Heat the plate or dish in which you turn it out of the pan. An omelet should never be turned while frying. The top may be well browned by holding above it a salamander or red-hot shovel.
If you wish it very thick, have three sweetbreads.
While frying the omelet, lift the edge occasionally by slipping a knife-blade under it, that the butter may get well underneath.
If omelets are cooked too much they will become tough, and leather-like. Many persons prefer having them sent to table as soft omelets, before they have set, or taken the form of a cake. In this case, serve up the omelet in a deep dish, and help it with a spoon.
SWEETBREADS AND OYSTERS.—
Take four sweetbreads, and when they have been soaked and blanched, quarter them, and remove the pipe. Strain the liquor from three dozen large fresh oysters, season it with powdered nutmeg and mace, and a little cayenne. Put the quartered sweetbreads into a stew-pan, and pour over them enough of the oyster-liquor to cover them well, adding, if you have it, three large spoonfuls of the gravy of roast veal, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into four bits; each bit rolled or dredged in flour. When the sweetbreads are done, put in the oysters, (first removing their gristle or hard part,) and take them out again as soon as they are plumped, which should be in five minutes. If allowed to boil, the oysters will shrivel, and become hard and tasteless. Add, at the last, two wine-glasses of cream, and shake the pan about, for a few minutes. Serve up in a deep dish.