Escalopes de Ris de Veau à la Maréchale

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart (2.8-liter) covered casserole
• •Two rimmed sheet pans and a 2-pound (900 g) household weight
• •Three shallow breading dishes
• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy skillet
• •Wire rack
• •Medium saucepan
• •Fine truffle slicer or mandoline
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak until pale

   Put the sweetbreads in a nonreactive bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water. Refrigerate for 2 hours, changing the water twice, until the water remains nearly clear and the sweetbreads look pale. Keep them cold throughout; soaking draws away blood without beginning to cook their delicate tissue.

   Sweetbreads should smell clean and faintly milky, never sour or strongly mineral. If the aroma remains unpleasant after soaking, don't cook them.
2. 2

   Blanch and trim

   Transfer the sweetbreads to a saucepan, cover with fresh cold water, and bring slowly to a bare simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, then lift them into ice water. Once cool enough to handle but still pliable, peel away the outer membrane, sinew, visible tubes, and loose fat without breaking apart the lobes. If the surface begins tearing, chill it for 10 minutes before continuing; cold tissue trims more cleanly.

3. 3

   Braise them gently

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Melt the braising butter in a small covered casserole, add the onion and carrot, and cook gently for 5 minutes without coloring them. Lay the trimmed sweetbreads over the vegetables, add the bouquet garni and enough stock to come halfway up their sides, then cover. Braise for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until the lobes feel resilient and spring back under a finger but are not soft. Remove smaller pieces as soon as they reach that point. They will cook again in the skillet, so tenderness now must stop short of softness.

4. 4

   Press and slice

   Lift the sweetbreads from the braise and strain the liquid for another use; this dish calls for no sauce, because sauce would soften the crumb. Arrange the warm lobes in one layer on a parchment-lined sheet pan, cover with a second sheet of parchment and another pan, then add a weight of about 2 pounds (900 g). Chill for 45 minutes. Slice the firm lobes across into 12 escalopes about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick, trimming ragged edges only where necessary, and dry every surface well.

5. 5

   Build the anglaise crust

   Set the flour, the prepared Anglaise (for Egg-and-bread-crumbing) (No. 174), and the fine bread crumbs in three shallow dishes. Season the escalopes with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the white pepper. Coat each first in flour, shaking off every loose patch, then dip it completely in the Anglaise and let the excess drain before pressing it into the crumbs. Set the coated slices on a rack and chill for 15 minutes so the crust adheres. Flour, Anglaise, crumb: c'est la même grammaire every time.

   Keep one hand for flour and crumbs and the other for the wet coating. The crust stays fine instead of collecting heavy clumps around your fingers and the sweetbreads.
6. 6

   Blanch the asparagus

   Bring a broad saucepan of water to a lively boil and season it with 1 teaspoon of the remaining salt. Add the asparagus tips and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, according to thickness, until vivid green and tender at the cut end while still holding their shape. Cool them promptly in ice water, drain, and dry well. They will be warmed and bound with butter just before serving.

7. 7

   Brown in clarified butter

   Heat the oven to 200°F (95°C) and set a rack over a sheet pan inside. Pour enough clarified butter into a wide skillet to make a shallow layer and heat it to 350°F (175°C), or until a pinch of crumb fizzes hard on contact. Fry the escalopes in two batches without crowding, about 2 minutes per side, until the crust is an even deep gold and the centers are hot. Drain them on the warm rack while the second batch cooks. If the first coating slips, the butter was too cool. Ça se rattrape: lift the slice out, skim away loose crumbs, reheat the butter, patch the bare place with a little flour, Anglaise, and fresh crumb, then return it patch-side down until fully set.

8. 8

   Bind asparagus with butter

   Put the blanched asparagus tips in a clean saucepan with 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) water and the diced cold butter. Season with the remaining salt and toss over medium heat until the asparagus is hot and the butter and water form a light, glossy emulsion that clings to every tip. This is the book's instruction to cohere them with butter, not drown them in it. If the butter separates into an oily puddle, take the pan off the heat, add a teaspoon of cold water, and shake vigorously until it gathers again.

9. 9

   Arrange à la Maréchale

   Warm an oval serving platter. Arrange the crisp sweetbread escalopes in a close circle, slipping one fine slice of truffle between each pair so the truffle warms against their edges. Heap the butter-glossed asparagus tips generously in the center and spoon over only the little butter emulsion that clings to the pan. Serve at once, while the crumb still answers the knife with a crisp little crack. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order veal sweetbreads from a butcher and ask for plump, pale lobes. The rounder heart sweetbread gives the neatest escalopes, though throat sweetbreads can join the braise and may simply produce smaller slices.
• •A whole preserved black truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer when fresh truffle isn't available. Drain it, dry it, and slice it finely. Truffle-flavored oil cannot stand between the escalopes and changes the dish completely.
• •Clarified butter is essential here. Ordinary butter contains milk solids that scorch before the crumb reaches its proper bronze, while clarified butter gives the crust time to crisp and keeps the flavor unmistakably buttery.
• •Use asparagus with tight tips and firm stalks. The central heap is half the plate, not a token garnish, so tired or waterlogged asparagus has nowhere to hide.
• •Pour a dry white Burgundy with enough acidity to meet the sweetbreads and butter. A restrained brut Champagne also works beautifully, particularly when the dish opens a longer dinner.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweetbreads can be soaked, blanched, trimmed, braised, and pressed up to 1 day ahead. Keep them covered and refrigerated, then slice and coat them on the day of serving.
• •The asparagus tips can be trimmed and blanched up to 6 hours ahead. Dry them carefully and refrigerate under a barely damp towel, then bind them with butter at the last moment.
• •Coat the escalopes up to 30 minutes before frying and keep them uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator. Don't leave the crumb overnight, because it absorbs moisture and loses the crisp crust that defines the dish.
• •Leftover cooked escalopes keep for 2 days under refrigeration. Reheat them on a rack in a 375°F (190°C) oven until hot; they won't be quite as crisp as the first serving, but they remain very good.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)