Sweetbread
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sweetbread is the name of a dish made of the thymus (neck/throat/gullet sweetbread) or the pancreas (belly/stomach/heart sweetbread) of an animal younger than one year old. These animals are usually piglets or calves.
The two organs have very different biological functions, but look fairly similar and so are considered, for the purpose of cooking, to be comparable. Thymus sweetbreads are slightly longer and more irregular, with pancreas sweetbreads being larger and more rounded.
Sweetbread is highly perishable and is considered a good source of vitamins and minerals.
Sweetbreads are simple to prepare and cook. Preparation is usually by boiling for a time, after which the fatty sinew is removed carefully without breaking the sweetbreads up. Unlike kidneys which require salting and soaking, sweetbread is simply seasoned and fried, with a knob of butter to finish. Often sweetbreads are crumbed, deep fried, and served with a slice of lemon.
A popular French recipe (ris de veau frites) involves calf's sweetbreads, which are first boiled with carrots, celery stalks, shallots, garlic, and aromatic herbs, then taken out and dried before being dipped into wheat flour and fried in a pan with butter. Fried sweetbreads are served with beurre noir poured over them. Sweetbread is also a primary ingredient for many classic ragoût recipes, such as ragoût fin.
In Argentina and Uruguay, sweetbreads (mollejas) are usually used for an asado. In northern Spain, they are cooked as a stew in an earthen casserole.
In Turkey, uykuluk (Turkish for sweetbread) is a popular dish to go with raki. Lamb sweetbreads are favoured in Turkey. The preparation of the meat before cooking is very important as this is a delicate part of the animal. Normally it's boiled for a short time and then immersed in cold water. After that the thin layer of skin should be peeled off. Then it's ready to be cooked. Mostly it's cooked either in a bit of butter or over the grill. Some red pepper, oregano and salt is added to the meat after the first 5 minutes of cooking. Istanbul's Sütlüce quarter is well-known for its restaurants specialised in preparing sweetbreads.
[edit] Fictional Role
In Thomas Harris's novel, Red Dragon, Dr Hannibal Lecter invites the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to a dinner party at his home. The main dish is a ragout whose ingredients Lector refuses to name. At the table, people comment that the orchestra's principal flautist, Raspail, is missing. Some time after the dinner party, Raspail's body is discovered sitting in a church pew, with his thymus and pancreas missing. A true gastronome might remember that these organs (of food animals) are called "sweetbreads." In the sequel The Silence of the Lambs, protagonist Clarice Starling realizes this. It is not known whether any member of the Symphony Board made this connection. Perhaps it was left as "an exercise for the reader."
