Lamb sweetbreads

[Verjuice]

I just bought half a pound of lamb sweetbreads from the farmer's market this morning. I love sweetbreads but I've never tried cooking with them, and I'm not sure I've even tried lamb sweetbreads.

Any suggestions?

[MobyP]

First of all - you win the prize. Lamb sweetbreads are supposed to be the best thing going.

Standard op with sweetbreads - soak them over night, changing the water a couple of times to get all of the blood out.

Blanch for 5-10 minutes in just sub-boiling water (depending on thickness). Plunge in ice water, drrain. Remove the membrane, skin, any fat, blood vessels.

Cover with clingfilm, and place on a roasting sheet (or plate). Cover with another roasting sheet (etc) and weight down - leave in fridge over-night.

Next day, cut into portions, dredge in flour (shaking off excess), season, and saute in butter until crispy, 3-4 mins, turn over and do tthe other side, 3-4 mins. Serve with a wedge of lemon, or any extravagent sauce you can think of.

[pedro]

After all the processing described by MobyP, let me suggest you a couple of options:

a) Simply fried them (in olive oil, please), serve them with poached onions, some salt and red peppers (ideally piquillo).

b) I had them last week at Arce (Madrid) in a light mustard sauce. Excellent results. I asked for a second helping.

[Jinmyo]

Also nice is to dip the breaded sweetbreads into a shoyu/lime zest/chile oil mixture or a sauce from some chopped mint with shallots, a tiny bit of horseradish, and cream.

[balmagowry]

Lucky lucky you - we couldn't get lamb sweetbreads when we were writing our book - had to substitute veal. Now, I'm not saying we suffered - far from it. But lamb was what they were supposed to be and lamb was what we wanted. And lamb is still what I want. At any rate, the recipe was highly successful and I can recommend it unreservedly: Sweetbreads in Malmsey from Lobscouse & Spotted Dog. Surprisingly, Malmsey isn't all that hard to come by (less so than lamb sweetbreads!)v, but you can substitute any good Madeira.

[Mild Bill]

I just can't imagine cooking sweetbreads in any other way than the Argentineans do it...

Soak overnight in lemon juice, black pepper and sliced onions...

Peel off some membrane and extra fat...

Toss over the coals till reduced, brown, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside...

Squeeze lemons at the table...

Mollejas...

Sweetbreads are made for the grill...

[balmagowry]

I just can't imagine cooking sweetbreads in any other way than the Argentineans  do it...

Soak overnight in lemon juice, black pepper and sliced onions...

Peel off some membrane and extra fat...

Toss over the coals till reduced, brown, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside...

Squeeze lemons at the table...

Mollejas...

Sweetbreads are made for the grill...

I've had 'em that way, and they're wonderful - but there's more than one way of skinning a cat. Aside from the malmsey preparation mentioned above (of which one of the guests at the PO'B dinner we gave in the Great Cabin of "HMS" Rose said to me, "I'd like you to come to my house and cook this for me every day, please"), I have the fondest memories of the way they were served at The Grand Ticino - sliced into a vaguely scalloppini-like shape, sautéed (I think probably lightly dredged in flour first, but it's been a while and I wouldn't swear to it), and served with a very light brown sauce with a bit of a bite to it, probably from the generous dollop of capers. Damn - Ticino seems to be gone. I may have to re-invent the dish from memory. I loved it so much that I could rarely bring myself to order anything else when I went there.

[Jon Tseng]

grill (broil?) til crispy

eat

J

ps never found the blanching thing necesary for lamb ones. or maybe i'm just too lazy. my suspicion is this is more relevant to veal sweetbreads (supposed to make them less rubbery/bloody or something)

[DRColby]

Wife is leaving tomorrow on a cruise. I am cleaning the freezer. Find a pack of beef sweetbreads.

Which leads to two things:

1.) my gripes about the state of US meat and

2.) to ask suggestions about what to do with these" toughies"?

I used to be able to special order veal sweetbreads (which I love to with wild mushrooms) from the butcher. Now, because of the mad cow scare, he is reluctant to handle any organ meat except liver. Plus there apparantly is no market in the US for ofal. How sad. When you can find beef sweetbreads, they tend to be priced like steak.

Is this another item that we are only going to be able to buy from a producer, and does anyone know a producer of veal sweetbreads shipping by mail?

Ideas for my toughies, please?

dave

[MobyP]

Pretty much as above, I'd imagine. How do they differ from veal?

[DRColby]

Posted Yesterday, 12:29 PM

 

Pretty much as above, I'd imagine. How do they differ from veal?

Much, much tougher and with lots more membraine to peel away. I have general used a two day method on sweetbreads. Parboiing l with a little vinegar, peeling as possible and then putting in dish and weighting down over night in refrig. Then peel again and grill over hight heat.

This time I tried, as someone suggested, the method of marinating overnight in lemon juice, onion and black pepper., peeled what I could and grilled. They were pretty bad (mushy). I think maybe the lemon cooks meat the way it does fish and seafood .

Anyhow, the cat and dog will eat well this week on leftovers.

dave