This section is from the book "The Epicurean", by Charles Ranhofer. Also available from Amazon: The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art.
Select eight medium very white heart sweetbreads, after they are soaked and blanched, press them slightly in the press (Fig. 71), and lard afterward with fat salt pork, cook them in a pan with very little moistening, basting them frequently with their own juice, so as to glaze them a fine color. Boil a quarter of a pound of coarse macaroni in .salted water, and when tender, drain and refresh it in tepid salted water; spread it out lengthwise on a towel and cut it up into a quarter of an inch lengths; as quickly as they are cut set them upright on to a buttered sheet and with a cornet filled with quenelle forcemeat (No.89,) stuff the empty space to half its heighth, and lay small round bits of truffle cut the same size on top, then cover the whole with a buttered paper, heat the bottom of the sheet lightly, then set it into a slow oven for one minute to poach the forcemeat; detach the pieces from the pan taking them up one by one and lay them on the truffle side against the bottom and sides of a buttered plain border mold; fill in the empty space of the mold with some of the same forcemeat, covering over all with a buttered paper; poach this border for twenty-five to thirty minutes in a bain-marie, so that the forcemeat hardens to the touch.
When prepared to use, un-mold the border on a dish and fill the center with the sweet breads. Have sixteen round pieces of unsmoked beef tongue, and sixteen rounds of truffles, all an inch and a quarter in diameter, by one-eighth of an inch in thickness; heat them in a little meat glaze (No. 402) and Madeira. Dress them in a ring around the sweetbreads on the crest of the border, alternating the colors; cover the bottom of the dish with half-glaze sauce (No. 413), and serve some of the same sauce separately, reduced with a puree of tomatoes (Mo. 730), butter, grated parmesan, and minced mushrooms.
Prepare and stud the sweetbreads (No. 1550), braise and glaze them the same as for a la conti (No. 1554); dress them either in a circle or in a straight row, if the latter, garnish the sides, but if the former fill the interior with a risot finished at the last moment with fresh butter the braise stock reduced to the consistency of a light glaze. Serve a bechamel cream sauce (No. 411), separately.
Prepare, cook, and glaze the sweetbreads the same as for those larded with gravy (No. 1575); dress them in a circle filling in the center with a garnishing of small mushroom heads stirred into a buttered allemande sauce (No. 407), adding to it lemon juice and chopped parsley; arrange outside the circle twelve small croustades, six of them filled with green peas, and the six others with soubise puree (No. 723). Lay on each croustade a slice of glazed truffle, and a small trussed and glazed crawfish between every one.
 
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