sweetbreads available someplace?

[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.

If I owned a restaurant, or if I cooked regularly, I'd be stopping by to pick kidneys up whenever possible. Possibly livers too.

Hell, if I thought I could use it in enough volume, I'd make arrangements to pay for them too.

*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?

I would eat it, at least once. Don't know if I like liver as much as intestines, sweetbreads, brains, and bone marrow yet. But I'm willing to give it a shot.

I'd say the only reason you haven't heard about lamb liver is because it's less common. I think the only reason you've heard about goose liver is because of foie gras. I can't say I've heard of veal, duck, turkey, or pig livers. Hmm, maybe I'm just deprived.

Yea, that's definiitely it.

(Okay, let's see who swings at that one.)

[mrbigjas]

pig liver is a key ingredient in good scrapple.

i'm assuming that veal liver is the same as calf's liver, but i could be very wrong about that. calf's liver is easy to find.

they make foie gras from duck livers.

turkey liver gets made into pate sometimes. specifically when you have a turkey and it's got a big ol liver in there and you want to do something with it.

i'm not the hugest liver fan either, but i'm totally getting some next time i go to the terminal and they have it for free.

[mrbigjas]

bumping this thread up over a year later to point y'all over to the reading terminal market thread, where i just posted that i bought a pound of calf sweetbreads for $10.99 today. they were available at harry ochs for the asking--i had previously thought you had to order them ahead of time, but as it turns out if your timing happens to be right it's not necessarily the case.

[percyn]

I have occassionally purchased sweetbreads at Wegmans and prepared them at home.

Restaurants in the 'burbs which carry offer include Majolica in Pheonixville, Birchrunville Store Cafe and I think occassionally Gilmores in West Chester.

[etalanian]

Foie gras can be either from a goose or a duck.

Susanna Foo has great sweetbreads on the menu. Also, LaCroix or Four Seasons will make them for you even if they aren't on the menu. Call ahead before you go and ask. If they have enough time before your visit so they can order them and prep them, they will be ahppy to do it. The best I have ever eaten were from Allouette (anyone remember that one - from way back in the 80's?) when it was on 5th street near South. Excellent and succulent, napped with an amazing demiglace. I can still taste them. Brings tears to my eyes.

[mrbigjas]

the verdict: sweetbreads are delicious, and not good for you.

i poached and pressed 2/3 of them last night. today i breaded and sauteed them, with a coating of ground roasted hazlenuts, salt & pepper, and wondra (yes i said wondra. it kicks flour's ass for this sort of thing, producing a crisper, lighter crust with less cooking necessary. it rules. wondra might be better for frying than it is for gravying.) a simple sauce of sherry vinegar and reduced stock.

the folks at harry ochs assured me that the vacuum sealing would preserve the sweetbreads for up to a week in the fridge. then everything i read in like five cookbooks said EXTREMELY PERISHABLE! COOK THE DAY YOU BUY THEM!

well, i bought them saturday, poached monday night, and fried tuesday, and they were just fine. i'll be doing this again, but with slightly more planning, since a pound of sweetbreads is actually a whole hell of a lot of them, even after they shrink a ton when you poach and clean them and then press them. so it would be way better to have people over for this sort of meal...

[KatieLoeb]

so it would be way better to have people over for this sort of meal...

←

I'll happily bring over some some wine to accompany...

[mrbigjas]

i actually considered posting in the ISO dining partners thread, but then i thought: what if i screw it up and they suck?

what wine does accompany this sort of thing? i drank a rhone from saint joseph from domaine vallet, and while i love the wine itself i'm not sure it was right with the meal. now i'm thinking i could have gone with something a little less rhone-y, like one of the pinot noirs i picked up in oregon that's meant to be drunk young. but that could be the hazlenuts talking.

so anyway, to sum up, if cdh is still reading: you can get sweetbreads at harry ochs. they come in 1 lb packages and are $10.99 a pound. the packages are vacuum sealed and will keep very well for at least a couple of days.

[cdh]

I'm still reading... Good to know the RTM has 'em sometimes. Guess it is a matter of luck and timing.

[KatieLoeb]

i actually considered posting in the ISO dining partners thread, but then i thought: what if i screw it up and they suck?

what wine does accompany this sort of thing?  i drank a rhone from saint joseph from domaine vallet, and while i love the wine itself i'm not sure it was right with the meal.  now i'm thinking i could have gone with something a little less rhone-y, like one of the pinot noirs i picked up in oregon that's meant to be drunk young.  but that could be the hazlenuts talking.

so anyway, to sum up, if cdh is still reading: you can get sweetbreads at harry ochs.  they come in 1 lb packages and are $10.99 a pound.  the packages are vacuum sealed and will keep very well for at least a couple of days.

←

James:

You won't screw it up. I have every faith in your adventurous spirit and well honed kitchen skills.

Stick with Rhone but try something white maybe next time. A Cotes du Rhone Blanc or a Chateauneuf-de-Pape Blanc would be lovely, not overwhelm the delicate flavor of the sweetbreads, have enough acidity to compete with the high fat content and compliment the hazelnut flavor in the breading. Vintage Champagne would be lovely too.

[badsneakers]

New member, Closet chef;) Good thread.

In my experience, sweetbreads are readily procured in Pennsylvania.

Here is one fine source.

In restaurants: I believe that any chef willing to do the prep involved in serving sweets correctly is one who will look around a bit to find them.

At home: The best I ever prepare myself are those that I get from a Berks County Mennonite farmer I have become friendly acquaintances with. Veal and lamb; (Good duck, too.)

And I think sweetbreads are good for you.

They make me happy.

[philadining]

Hey badsneakers, welcome to eGullet, and thanks for the tip!

[mrbigjas]

yeah, what he said!

i've never had lamb sweetbreads, and most of the sources i read said that they're not as readily available in the US. i'd be interested to try them sometime--later rather than sooner, though, since while i agree with you that they make me happy, my doctor might disagree that that's all there is to consider....

[Andrew Fenton]

Bumping up this thread to confirm that Le Bec Fin's risotto with fricasseed sweetbreads is an outstanding dish. It's rich, with an amazing texture: creamy/firm risotto with tiny cubes of crispy sweetbreads...

[serpentine]

I see 'em at Ansill, Southwark, and Fork periodically. I think I remember seeing them at Caribou on occasion as well.

[Diann]

Another outstanding sweetbread dish: warm spinach salad with sweetbreads, snails, pancetta and leeks at Osteria. Hot crispy oozy sweetbreads, wilted spinach, fat plump snails, some pancetta fat mixed in with everything... it's ridiculously delicious. I have never had a bad snail dish there...

Oh, and not sweetbreads, but in a similar category, the lamb's tongue at Ansill is amazing!

[Andrew Fenton]

Another outstanding sweetbread dish: warm spinach salad with sweetbreads, snails, pancetta and leeks at Osteria. Hot crispy oozy sweetbreads, wilted spinach, fat plump snails, some pancetta fat mixed in with everything... it's ridiculously delicious.

Oh, totally: that's a terrific dish. I also love the fact that they throw some spinach in with all that bacon and sweetbreads and butter and snails so that you can be like, hey! I'm eating a nice, healthy salad!