Even while many organ meats have strong flavors and unfamiliar textures, sweetbreads are white meat and easy to love. How to improve sweetbreads? Besides bacon or a lot of butter, seasoned ground pork will do. In this dish, we combine herbs, pistachios, aromatics – along with the meats – into a heavy cooking vessel. There is nothing complicated about Sweetbread Terrine, but it does take a few days and several fun steps to pull it all together.
Of the earth
The word ‘terrine’ was originally derived from the earth or ‘terra’ and the earthen pot used to prepare these dishes.
Yet, the common filling is typically a meat mixture (or forcemeat) sometimes also referred to as a pate. A pate or forcemeat filling can include meat, poultry, game or even vegetables or seafood. It’s not uncommon for these meat fillings to include offal – such as the common liver pates, and in this case, sweetbreads.
Traditionally, the terrine described the container in which the pate or a finer, smoother ‘mousse’ was baked. Today, terrine most commonly refers to a loaf shape of meat, with any type of meat mixture.
Regardless, this is a beautiful dish that can be prepared easily in advanced. The subtle rich flavors, and fatty pork blend make it easy to enjoy.
Sweetbread Terrine
This recipe was shared with me by a friend who found it in one of her mom’s old cookbooks. She texted me a photo. I don’t know the book or author that it originated from, although it has been adapted thoroughly. The original recipe also called for preparing pork tenderloin and a brown cream sauce to add to the layers of the terrine. (Be my guest!) Honestly, it was delicious and the salt portions I used were well-suited for serving cold. I also replaced boozy additions with broth.
This recipe takes a couple of days, so it seems like it would be a lot of work. Yet, the steps were simple and manageable, and it disappeared quickly. I had to include Cold Sweetbread Terrine on my site so I could easily find the recipe the next time I make it, which I definitely will! Let me know if you do as well. 🙂
Cold Sweetbread Terrine
Notes
This recipe takes a couple of days to complete, so read the full recipe in advance and plan ahead. The terrine will keep for 7-10 days (covered or in a sealed container).
Ingredients
For the Meat Mixture
- 1 1/4 lb ground pork
- 1/2 c broth
- 2 t vinegar of choice
- 2 1/2 t salt (or curing salt)
- 1 1/2 t pepper
- 1/2 t thyme, chopped fine or ground
- 1 bay leaf, in fine pieces or 1/4t ground
- 4T pistachios
- 1 large egg yolk
For the Sweetbreads
- 1 1/4 lb sweetbreads
- 2 T sweet cream butter
- 1 t salt
- 1/2 t pepper
- 1 small carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 small tomato, peeled and diced
- 1 small onion, peeled and diced
- 5 parsley sprigs, chopped
- 1/3 c broth
Garnishes For serving (Optional)
- mustard
- cornichons
- chopped parsley
Instructions
For the Meat Mixture
- Combine all ingredients, cover tightly, and reserve in the refrigerator for 48 hours.
For the sweetbreads
- Soak the sweetbreads for 2-24 hours to whiten them, changing the water 2-3 times. Drain.
- Add sweetbreads to boiling water and poach for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Remove the external membrane, but keep slender pieces in tact.
- Line a plate or baking sheet with a towel, add the sweetbreads, cover with another towel. Place second plate or baking sheet on top and put a weight on top. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 6 hours). (This will dry and flatten the sweetbreads.)
- Finally, preheat oven to 375 and remove sweetbreads from towels.
- Melt the butter in an ovenproof saucepan. Roll the sweetbreads in butter and add salt, pepper, carrot, tomato, onion, and parsley to pan. Cover with parchment or a lid. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove lid, add broth, and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.
- Reserve sweetbreads and remove solids from pan. Return pan to heat and cook down remaining liquid until 1/4 cup remains and add this to the ground pork meat mixture.
For the terrine
- Preheat oven to 290F.
- Spread one-half to one-third of the meat mixture into the bottom of a 8x4.5x3 loaf pan or terrrine dish. Add the sweetbreads and cover with meat mixture in one or two layers, finishing with a layer of the meat mixture. (If sweetbread pieces are too large, slice them lengthwise in half.)
- Add the terrine pan to deep baking dish, adding warm water to come up two-thirds of the way up the loaf or terrine pan. Bake for about two hours - the internal temperature should reach 140 and will continue to rise to 145 after removing from the oven.
- Remove from the deep baking pan and allow to cool to room temperature. Cover, refrigerate and let rest for one day before slicing. Serve with mustard and cornichons.
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