Pan Fried Sweetbreads Recipe

There is a lot of misinformation about what sweetbread is. This misinformation is mostly due to the consistency of it. Sweetbread is the pancreas and thymus glands of the lamb. It is not a single organ or a single part of the lamb. It is obtained from two different parts of the lamb. Its consistency is between meat and suet. Someone who is not careful may think that they are eating a very tender lamb meat, and someone who is sensitive about suet may think that they are eating suet.

Sweetbread smells like lamb. I'm not talking about a bad smell, I'm talking about fresh lamb meat. But still, whether it is good or bad depends on one's taste. In other words, for someone who likes the smell of lamb, it is one of the most delicious parts of the lamb, while for someone who does not like lamb meat, it can be bad.

I'm not much of a offal lover. For example, I eat liver, but I do not crave for liver out of the blue. If I do, it would be Edirne style fried crispy liver. But it's not practically liver, it can even be called chips. But after coming to Spain, a few offals changed my approach. In Spain, lamb seriously means suckling lamb. Therefore, lamb and lamb offal are very tender and often very tasty. Here there is a different offal that I try and love; lamb kidney. I would like every food lover to try lamb kidney at least once in their lives.

Another offal that I love is sweetbread. I tried it once in an ordinary place in Turkey. It left no trace on me. But I do it here, although not very often. I like it a lot.

Since it has a very aromatic flavor on its own, it does not need a very complicated chain of processes. If you have a grill, you can grill it on skewers or in pieces. If you don't have a grill or if you want to cook it on the stove, you can fry it this way in a pan with butter. You can change and diversify the spices according to your taste. But no matter which mixture you use, thyme must be in it.

Enjoy the recipe...

Bon Appetit...