sweetbreads available someplace?

[herbacidal]

Ling's post in Vancouver got me thinking:

What restaurant in Philly has sweetbreads on le menu?

I like the stuff, wouldn't mind having it more often.

Only had it once, at Sammy's Roumanian in NYC.

[SG-]

Nan has a sweetbread entree and boy is it a whole lotta sweetbread!!! Come to think of it, I prefer it as an accompaniment in an entree and opposed to the main item.

Edited November 25, 2003 by SG- (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Herb:

London Grill used to do a righteous sweetbreads dish. Don't know if it's still on the menu, but you could easily find out with a quick phone call.

[Andrew Fenton]

My introduction to the wonderful world of sweetbreads was at Dante and Luigi's. Crispy on the outside, creamy and almost melting on the inside: I'd get them again any time.

[bleachboy]

Pick a restaurant with a good chef where you're a regular. Ask the chef if he'd make sweetbreads for the special one night next week. I bet he'll take you up on the offer.

Sweetbreads are one of the things I'll order any time they show up on a menu, rarely seen but greatly appreciated.

[tim olivett]

I'm so happy somebody wrote that.

I'm the chef de cuisine at the Moshulu so let me know, I'm always looking for a reason to sway the chef/owner over to putting some offal on the menu.

The thing about sweetbreads is that compared to any other organ meat they are so tame it's criminal that people prejudge them so much. They're just great texture. Flavor wise they'll pretty much sponge up whatever you pair them with, they're so mild. I never went for the straight poached ones. I like'em poached, pressed, sliced and then breaded and sauteed up crispy. Maybe fresh breadcrumbs plain or herbed or mixed with hazelnuts or dried crispy shallots or...now you've got me going. In NYC we used to do a great entree where we spiked them with batons of salsify and wrapped them in pancetta and accompanied them with buttery pommes puree and a very lemony veal demi glace. I used to have to make so many in a wood fired oven that one time I fell asleep and started to dream that my girlfriend was the sweetbread (not a bad pet name) and her pajamas were the pancetta and of course her arms and legs the salsify. Anyway, I'm going to have show your post to the chef to convince him. Plus, during the slow months (jan, feb, mar) we're going to have more specials and degustations so I'll be sure to include them. I love'm in sausages or crepinettes or as a garnish to a main course ( a sprinkling of little cripsy nuggets)-I think I'm going to go pick up the phone and call some in-well maybe after New Years. Anyway, Thanks!

[mrbigjas]

In NYC we used to do a great entree where we spiked them with batons of salsify and wrapped them in pancetta and accompanied them with buttery pommes puree and a very lemony veal demi glace.

My GOD does that sound good.

[tim olivett]

A month ago I had a great entree at Salt that combined Lobster and sweet breads, the textures really played together well. Again, a great example of how sweetbreads rise above all other offal in their versatility.

Anybody ever have lamb sweetbreads? I've read about them (french laundry, novelli) but never tried them or seen them.

[cdh]

Randomly asked a farmer today if, since they sell lots of lamb parts, could they get me some lamb sweetbreads. They were puzzled and said they never see them from their butcher, and wondered if there was some law that prevented it.

I've never seen sweetbreads available at any consumer market in PA... maybe this is just a function of the limited sample size of my life experience, but there might be something to it. Has anybody who's not a chef ever bought sweetbreads in PA? How does one qualify to buy them if there is some law restricting access?

[Andrew Fenton]

That's a good question, and it occurs to me that I've never seen the sweet, sweet bread at market before. It must be available somewhere; I mean, you see it on menus sometimes. I'll ask around- will try the folks at Reading Terminal if I get the chance, and definitely the Meadow Run folks at market on Tuesday- and find a source or know the reason why not.

[cdh]

Actually, have you seen sweetbreads on the menu in PHL anywhere? I know that the only memorable sweetbreads I've consumed in restaurants were in NYC... La Caravelle did them wonderfully, as does Prune... But I don't recall seeing them in PA ever.

Makes me wonder if there is some regulation in PA that declares the offal bits "unfit for human consumption" for some silly reason or other.

I could get sweetbreads in ordinary supermakets in Texas... I've picked up lamb kidneys at Wegman's in Allentown before... but never seen a sweetbread in PA. Maybe we have a grass-roots political issue here-- "Free the Sweetbreads!"

[mrbigjas]

I had sweetbreads at Carmans just a couple of weeks ago. I've had them at Lacroix as well. Waldorf Cafe used to be known for them. They're definitely around.

You can get veal kidneys at the supermarket at 15th & spruce--as dumpy as that place is, they still have a butcher on premises, which means you can get oxtails and shin meat and pork neck bones and marrow bones and veal breast and kidney and lamb shanks and packs of gizzards and hearts and necks and wingtips all that other stuff you can't find in a boring supermarket that gets all their meat from a preprocessing center.

I wonder if the asian markets would have them--they carry the less common stuff as well, like several kinds of tripe, pig blood, pork liver, "old chicken" (that "old" vis a vis "young," not "old" vis a vis "fresh"), etc.

Edited June 25, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

I had some great sweetbreads at Dante and Luigi's a while back. There was an earlier PA sweetbreads thread, kicked off (I think) by Herb. I can't remember if he succeeded in getting any around these parts; no doubt he'll chime in.

[cdh]

Excellent! I look forward to hearing the results of your sleuthing. Would be interesting to see if a consistent story emerges across all the folks who are asked.

[herbacidal]

I don't know of any available retail.

I can't recall ever having had them in a restuarant here either.

[mrbigjas]

I just called Harry Ochs, and they carry calf sweetbreads. He wasn't sure if he had them right now, because someone ordered some and he wasn't sure how much they were actually going to end up buying.

I asked the price, and he wasn't sure of that either.

But they do have them. I suspect a call to Martin's would provide a similar result.

[cdh]

Putting my legal background to work I perused the PA Code of Regulations and found a few mentions of thymus glands and other such, but none of which made any attempts to outlaw them.. so I don't think there's a law against them*. It may just be a real lack of demand that keeps them off the shelves.

Clamor for sweetbreads all! Let them know we're here and we want our sweetbreads!

* Which is not to say that some other law has not been interpreted to cover them while not specifically mentioning them, a possibility no lawyer could discount.

Edited June 25, 2004 by cdh (log)

[TarteTatin]

We actually get sweetbreads quite often, at, believe it or not, Ralph's in South Philly!

No kidding!

There is a mention on the menu that they don't serve it on Saturday nights (I believe it still says that).

These are not creatively interesting, but, good, respectable, Italian/Ralphs/South Philly style good sweetbreads!

[TarteTatin]

We actually get sweetbreads quite often, at, believe it or not, Ralph's in South Philly!

No kidding!

There is a mention on the menu that they don't serve it on Saturday nights (I believe it still says that).

These are not creatively interesting, but, good, respectable, Italian/Ralphs/South Philly style good sweetbreads! With mushrooms and lemon, vermouth and butter. I think capers too.

Plus Lacroix, The Four Seasons and we're sure a couple of other places.

Sam is the sweetbread king.

He orders them whenever they are on the menu.

(Sorry about the double post)

Edited June 26, 2004 by casting@philacast.com (log)

[Lisa1349]

I had wonderful sweetbreads last week at Rouge. I will post more about the great experience there later. The sweetbreads were on a salad of red grapes, apple, walnut, frisee, red onion, with a perfectly poached egg on top. The menu didn't mention the egg, I thought it was a wonderful addition.

[SG-]

I bought some, frozen from a nearby german butcher... they carry brains etc too but all frozen too unfortunately.

Illg's in bucks county

[cdh]

As an update, I ran across some sweetbreads on my last trip up to Dietrich's Meats in Krumsville (off of Rt 22, west of Allentown).

They cost me $8 a pound frozen.

So they are out there... just really rare.

(Dietrich's also does a great jowl bacon, if you're hunting for that too!)

[KatieLoeb]

In addition to being a regular menu item (not a special) at Rouge, sweetbreads can be had at several local establishments. London Grill has been known to have them on the menu, I'm pretty sure I've seen them at Fork and I just had the best sweetbreads I've had in some time at Marigold Kitchen last week. Pictures and commentary on that meal are Here

[mrbigjas]

suddenly i realize that i haven't reported that ocasionally, the fair food stand in the terminal has lamb organ meats for free. yeah, free. i asked about them, and the fabulous chick working there said that they buy whole animals, and no one wants the organ meats, so they give away the kidneys and livers* and sweetbreads** and whatnot.

*i've never seen anyone eat a lamb liver; i wonder why. chicken, turkey, duck, goose, beef, veal, even pig. why haven't i heard about lamb liver?

**she didn't actually mention these that day when we discussed it, but also she wasn't so much into that sort of thing.

[herbacidal]

suddenly i realize that i haven't reported that ocasionally, the fair food stand in the terminal has lamb organ meats for free.  yeah, free.  i asked about them, and the fabulous chick working there said that they buy whole animals, and no one wants the organ meats, so they give away the kidneys and livers* and sweetbreads** and whatnot.

*i've never seen anyone eat a lamb liver; i wonder why.  chicken, turkey, duck, goose, beef, veal, even pig.  why haven't i heard about lamb liver?

**she didn't actually mention these that day when we discussed it, but also she wasn't so much into that sort of thing.

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