Recipe below: Escarole Salad with Sweetbreads, Fennel, and Radishes
There are things cooks find themselves thinking about that seem to come out of nowhere. For instance, the other day it occurred to me I hadn’t cooked sweetbreads for several years. Once I realized that I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I did something about it.
We used to make sweetbreads often when I cooked at Restaurant Florent, but since they require a bit of prep and you don’t see them around much at meat counters, they easily slip my mind. When I did finally go looking for them the other day, I started at Citarella, because I’d bought them there before. I asked a couple of the “butchers” if they had them, and not one of them knew what I was talking about. One of them actually told me to check the pastry department. Geez, I remember when Citarella used to hire real professionals. Irritating but also sad. Even the fancy Dickson’s butcher in Chelsea Market doesn’t carry them, but at least they knew what they were.
What are they? They’re the thymus gland of veal or beef or lamb. They’re very floppy when raw, which I suppose might upset some people, but unlike all the other offal cuts sweetbreads are mild and creamy inside when you cook them correctly, which is not hard to do. They have no strong organy taste at all. Even if you don’t like liver, for instance, you’ll still probably like these. I like to cook them crispy on the outside so when you take a bite the inside is tender, almost like the best French fry of your life.
Escarole Salad with Sweetbreads, Fennel, and Radishes
3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1½ pounds veal sweetbreads
Salt
1 large head escarole, the tough outer leaves removed, the rest torn into medium-size pieces
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
A few radishes, thinly sliced
The green tops of 2 scallions, cut into thin rounds
1 teaspoon mustard
1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
5 long thyme sprigs, the leaves lightly chopped
Black pepper
Semolina flour for dredging
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Put 1 tablespoon of vinegar into to a large pot of cold water, and drop the sweetbreads into it. Let them soak for about an hour. This is to flush out any blood or gunk.
Lift the sweetbreads out of the water. Pour out the water. Stick the sweetbreads back in the pot, and cover them with fresh water by about 2 inches or so. Add some salt and another tablespoon of vinegar, and turn the heat to high. Let the water come to a boil, and then turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 6 minutes. At this point they’ll be not quite cooked through, still a little pink at the center but firm on the outside.
Lift them from the pot, and stick them in an ice bath to cool (if you prefer you can just run really cold water over them until they’re cool).
Trim any gristly ends off, and peel away as much of the thin outer membrane as possible (you’re never going to get it all off, but do the best you can).
This next part isn’t absolutely necessary, but I like to weight them with something heavy like a big pot with something heavy inside it. This flattens them a little, allowing them to cook more evenly, and it also gets rid of excess water so they brown nicely. Do this for about an hour. Now you’ll be able to easily pull the sweetbreads into the size you want (you don’t need a knife). They separately easily between the lobes. For this salad I wanted approximately 2-inch pieces.
Put the escarole, fennel, and radishes in a wide salad bowl. Scatter on the scallion tops.
In a small bowl, combine the mustard, garlic, a little salt, and the last tablespoon of sherry wine vinegar, stirring it all to dissolve the salt. Add about 3 tablespoons of good olive oil, the crème fraîche, about half of the thyme, and some black pepper, and give it a good stir. Taste for seasoning. Since sweetbreads are rich, a little acidity is good for balance. You might want to add a little more vinegar or mustard. Your call.
Toss the sweetbread pieces in a little olive oil. Season them with salt, black pepper, the rest of the thyme, and then dredge them in the semolina, shaking off any excess.
Set up a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When that’s hot, add the sweetbread pieces, presentation side down, and brown them well, about 5 minutes. Turn them over and brown the other side, about 2 minutes longer. Take them out of the pan, and put them on a plate. They should be golden and crunchy.
Toss the salad with about ¾ of the vinaigrette.
Plate each salad and then arrange pieces of sweet bread over the top, drizzling them with a little of the remaining vinaigrette. Garnish with parsley leaves and serve right away.
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