Sweetbread and Celery Root Salad

Recipe: Sweetbread and Celery Root Salad

Page: 89

Date Cooked: September 5, 2012

I've eaten sweetbreads many times, but I had never prepared them myself before this recipe. The introduction to this recipe didn't ease my apprehension about cooking sweetbreads either... "under- or overcooking sweetbreads renders them inedible." But I had to take it as a challenge and on with the recipe I went.

Ingredients: Sweetbreads, white onion, garlic, jalapeno chile, white wine vinegar, bouquet garni (not pictured), salt, black peppercorns, celery root (not pictured), heavy cream, unsalted butter, bacon, olive oil, cabbage, rice wine vinegar, and flat-leaf parsley

I soaked the sweetbreads in cold salted water for a couple hours, changing the water once. 

Sweetbreads soaking in salted water

In the meantime, I thinly sliced onion and garlic. I also cut the jalapeno in half. I placed the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in a pan with white wine vinegar, water, the bouquet garni, salt, and the peppercorns. I brought it all to a simmer and let it simmer.

(1) Sliced white onion (2) Sliced garlic (3) Halved jalapeno

I added the sweetbreads to the court bouillon and simmered until the sweetbreads were just cooked through. I removed the sweetbreads to a colander and ran it under cold water to stop the cooking. I poured the court bouillon into a bowl to cool. Once the court bouillon cooled, I added the sweetbreads, covered the bowl, and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

(1) Simmering court bouillon (2) Sweetbreads in court bouillon (3) Sweetbreads post-simmer

The next day, I strained the sweet breads from the court bouillon, peeled the membranes, and sliced them into rounds.

Sliced sweetbreads

I peeled the celery root, cut it into cubes, and placed them in a saucepan with cold water, and some salt. I cooked the celery root till tender. I drained the celery root and transferred it the food processor. I pureed the celery root with cream, butter, salt, and pepper.

Celery root puree

I sliced the bacon into strips and cooked it in a skillet with some olive oil until the bacon browned. I removed the bacon with a slotted spoon and let it drain on a paper towel. I sliced the cabbage into strips and added the cabbage to the bacon fat  and stirred until the cabbage wilted. I added the champagne vinegar and simmered until the cabbage is tender. I seasoned the cabbage with salt and pepper and kept it warm.

Cooking the bacon

Sauteing cabbage

I heated butter and olive oil in a skillet. I seasoned the sweetbreads with salt and pepper and cooked them in the skillet, sauteing the sweetbreads until browned on each side.

Sauteing the sweetbreads

Then it was on to putting it all together. I spooned the celery root puree into the center of the plate. I topped it with the sauteed sweetbread slices. I then surrounded the puree with the cabbage and sprinkled it with the bacon strips. I topped the salad with some chopped parsley and it was ready to eat.

Sweetbread and Celery Root Salad

Well first things first...cooking sweetbreads, not that hard. Actually it was quite simple. And the salad was delicious. It's pretty hard to compare it to something else. But all the parts worked nicely together. The fat from the sweetbreads and bacon was cut by the cabbage and the parsley. The salad as a whole was a little monochromatic (except for the parsley) but like I said it tasted really good.

Enjoy!