Spring lamb sweetbreads

Food and photography by Michael O Meara




Spring Lamb Sweetbreads

Liver, kidneys and even tripe, indeed offal can send many a person running for cover. Anthony Bourdain in his superb ‘Les Halles Cookbook’ has dedicated a chapter to offal, he calls it “Blood and guts” and what are the first words of this chapter? “This is the good stuff, the dishes chefs get all misty-eyed about when they talk about food”.
Indeed offal when fresh and cooked well is the good stuff, and to add to that it’s also down right affordable. This is the food that got the world through the great depression of the 1930’s. And its time we placed our sights firmly back on heart braised and served with wild garlic, liver cooked pink with buttery mashed potatoes or kidneys with wild mushrooms and a pink peppercorn sauce.
But if you want to know what the best single piece of offal is? Right about now spring lamb is in season which means that lamb sweetbreads are at their best. There are two types of sweetbread in an animal, being the thymus gland and the pancreas. For me the pancreas makes better eating. It is important to prepare and cook sweetbreads when as fresh as possible, as is the case with all offal. Traditionally sweetbreads are soaked for a few hours in water and then blanched and refreshed before use. I find this takes away from the delicate lamb’s sweetbread which simply requires a little salt and fresh black pepper to season, then a quick tossing in flour before gently frying in a little butter until cooked through. A simple puree made from fresh sorrel makes a stunningly good accompaniment to the sweetbreads when fried golden.

Sweetbreads lend themselves to many cookery methods, the vast majority of which are simple and more than a little bit tasty.

Sweetbread fritters
Simply season and flour the sweetbreads then dip into a light fritter batter and cook in a deep fryer until golden brown.
To make batter simply sift 1 cup of flour into a bowl, make a well in center and add 2 whole eggs then gradually beat in 300ml milk. Allow batter stand in refrigerator for 1 hour before use.

Sweetbread and potato salad with balsamic garlic dressing
Per person
5 lamb sweetbreads
A little flour
1 small potato
1 knob of butter to fry with

For dressing
30 ml balsamic vinegar
50 ml virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
Sprig of thyme
Salt and pepper to season
Dressing can be made in advance

60 grams organic salad leafs per person

1. Make dressing and place aside
2. Wash and slice potatoes into thin slices, fry on each side in a little butter until golden, remove from pan and place aside.
3. Clan pan then add a little butter, season sweetbreads then lightly flour, shaking off any excess. Fry in butter until golden and cooked.
4. Remove from pan and clean the pan with a little kitchen paper.
5. Place the sweetbreads back into the pan, when good and hot, add 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Toss the sweetbreads in the dressing until well coated.
6. Dress a plate with the salad. Then place 5 potato slices onto the plate evenly spaced. Place a sweetbread onto each potato, then another potato atop each sweetbread to create 5 small potato sweetbread sandwiches.
7. Drizzle a little more dressing around the plate and onto the salad, and then serve straight away.