Ris de Veau Grillé Jocelyne

Ris de Veau Grillé Jocelyne (Jocelyne-style grilled veal sweetbreads) teaches one true thing before all others: the grill can brown a sweetbread beautifully, but it cannot correct one that wasn't blanched, trimmed, pressed, and dried first. Do that preparation with patience and the flesh becomes tender and close-textured beneath its bronze crust, sturdy enough to sit proudly over a potato case filled with curried Soubise, the silky onion-and-rice purée.

The source assumes a saucier holding Soubise, a stockpot never off the fire, another pair of hands cutting potato cases, and a salamander ready while the grill cook attends the sweetbreads. At home, you have a small saucepan, good light stock, a heavy skillet, and the broiler overhead. I have folded the separate Soubise work into one small batch for four and staged the cooking instead of demanding that everything finish at once. The brigade's simultaneity was scaffolding. The pressed sweetbread, butter-cooked potato, curried Soubise, and grilled tomato and capsicum are the dish, so every one stays.

The finished plate is generous and wonderfully direct: butter-gold potato, warm ochre Soubise, a deeply browned sweetbread, then scarlet tomato and green capsicum from the grill. One cook, one stove, one evening. Press the sweetbreads flat and dry them thoroughly before they meet the pan; that is the step that decides the dish.