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Parboil them as just explained. Just before serving, cut them in
even-sized pieces, sprinkle over pepper and salt, egg and bread-crumb
them, and fry them in hot lard. They are often immersed in boiling lard,
yet oftener fried in the _sauté_ pan. If _sautéd_, when done put them on
a hot dish, turn out part of the lard from the _sauté_ pan, leaving
about half a tea-spoonful; pour in a cupful of milk thickened with a
little flour; let it cook, stirring it constantly, and season it with
pepper and salt; strain, and pour over the sweet-breads. With green
pease, serve without sauce. This is the usual combination at dinner or
breakfast companies, the pease in the centre of the dish, and the
sweet-breads around (see cut above). Or they are often served whole with
cauliflower or asparagus heads, when the cream-sauce is poured over
both; or they are also nice piled in the centre of a dish, with macaroni
(cooked with cheese) placed around them like a nest, and browned a
little with a salamander (see cut on next page), or with a tomato-sauce
in the centre of the dish, and the sweet-breads around, or with stuffed
tomatoes alternating with the sweet-breads on the dish, or with
mushrooms in the centre, or served on a dish made of boiled rice, called
a rice _casserole_ (see page 205), or in little rice molds called
_cassolettes_. To make the latter, boil the rice well, then work it to a
smooth paste with a spoon; fill some little buttered patty-pans with the
rice, and when it is quite cold take it out, brush the _cassolettes_
with butter on the outside, and color them a little in a hot oven; scoop
out the inside, leaving the rice crust a quarter of an inch thick. Fill
the _cassolettes_ with the sweet-breads cut into pieces, and pour over
each a spoonful of cream dressing; or they may be _sautéd_ as described,
and served with a _maître-d’hôtel_ sauce poured over.
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