Veal or lamb
sweetbreads will be on many French menus. Chefs and gourmands highly prize
these uniquely delicate cuts with their clear and mild flavor and texture.
Where do these cuts come from?
Sweetbreads are considered a top-tier cut of meat; in fact they are two the
pancreas and thymus glands. Some food lovers have a strong preference for one
gland over the other, or they might prefer veal sweetbreads to lamb. Though, I
can't really tell the difference when these delicate pieces are lightly sauced
or fried. The texture of sweetbreads is somewhat like the most tender calf's
liver from a milk-fed animal, but that's where the comparison stops. It's
similar, but definitely not the same.
What
does the term sweetbreads mean?
Sweetbreads contain no bread.
Dictionary.com notes the word comes from Old English where swēte meant
sweet and bræd meant flesh; hence sweetbreads for sweet meat.
Sweetbreads are a rare sight on menus
across the USA and the UK. However, in France, many restaurants regularly
features them. Chefs prepare sweetbreads in many ways—they might be fried,
poached, grilled, stewed, or roasted. They're also served hot or cold as hors
d'oeuvres. In my experience, sweetbreads are best when served in dishes
where other flavors don't overpower the meat's own delicate taste.
Sweetbreads on
French menus:
Ris
de Veau - Calf
sweetbreads.
Ris
d'Agneau- Lamb sweetbreads
Ris de Chevreau - Kid
sweetbreads. A 4-6-month-old goat, a kid,
Veal sweetbread ravioli served in a cream of artichoke
sauce.
Photograph courtesy of Kent Wang
www.flickr.com/photos/kentwang/3717165076/
Ris de Veau à la Crème
et aux Champignons – Sweetbreads with a cream and button mushroom sauce.
Ris Braise -
Lightly fried sweetbreads. The menu should indicate whether these are veal or
lamb; if not, ask. While I cannot tell the difference, I like to know anyway.
Crispy
veal sweetbreads
with
diced parsnips, small potatoes, and black truffles.
Photograph courtesy of Charles
Haynes
www.flickr.com/photos/haynes/998280252/
Ris de Veau Croustillantes,
Jeunes Carottes et Graines de Moutarde -Crisply fried
sweetbreads served with baby carrots and flavored
with mustard seeds.
Ris de Veau aux Girolles - Veal sweetbreads
prepared with wild chanterelle mushrooms.
Ris de Veau Poêlée, Jus à la
Cardamone et Panais - Lightly fried veal sweetbreads served
with the sweetbreads’ cooking juices flavored
with cardamom and accompanied by parsnips.
N.B. Cardamom is a spice with a heady
aroma and a unique taste, often used with hot spiced wines. In Western Europe,
outside of France, cardamom is only occasionally seen in the kitchen, and
therein lies a small but essential difference in European tastes. The Swedes
use cardamom in pastries, and cardamom is important for all of Scandinavia.
Without cardamom, there would be no Scandinavian Aquavit liquor with 40%
alcohol to drink on festive occasions.
Sweetbreads
and duck confit ravioli
Photograph courtesy of
stu_spivack
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/578387276/
Bouchée a la Reine
au Ris de Veau – Here, a
puff pastry vol-au-vent will be filled with veal sweetbreads with a cream
sauce.
Originally all Bouchées à la
Reine were made with sweetbreads or sweetbreads and chicken; however, that
is no longer the case. Bouchée means a small mouthful and is often on
the menu as an amuse-gueule, a small complimentary appetizer. Only
occasionally will the Bouchée a la Reine on the menu be with veal or
lamb sweetbreads, and then it may not be complimentary.
Ravioles de Ris
d'Agneau au Gingembre et Citron - Ravioli stuffed with lamb sweetbreads and
flavored with lemon and ginger.
Cassolette d'Escargots et Ris d'Agneau à l'Oseille -
A snail stew made with lamb sweetbreads and flavored
with sorrel. A snail cassoulet is very different to the meat cassoulets of
Southern France.
Why the French love cooking with sweetbreads.
One
of the significant advantages of sweetbreads is that not too easy to overcook
them. Unlike many dishes that should spend, at most, one or two minutes in the
pan or under the grill and then are forgotten for three extra minutes will see
the dish become inedible. Sweetbreads forgive the chef. Sweetbreads will remain
juicy for close to double the time indicated in a recipe. Fried sweetbreads
will remain crispy on the outside while the interior will be bursting with the
juices from the meat even if the recipe indicated frying for 3 or 5 minutes and
the chef left them for 10 minutes.
Sweetbreads in French country restaurants
On
village and country restaurant menus, there may be ris de porcelet,
piglet sweetbreads, or ris de bœuf, beef sweetbreads. These animal's
sweetbreads have a stronger taste than lamb or veal, and among the big city
cognoscenti, they are not appreciated. These are country comfort foods, and I
have enjoyed kid's sweetbreads on more than one occasion in southern France.
------------------
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?
Just
add the word, words, or phrase you are searching for to the phrase "Behind
the French Menu" enclosed in inverted commas (quotation marks) and
search using Google, Bing, or another search engine. Behind the French
Menu's links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases commonly seen on
French menus. There are over 450 posts featuring more than 4,000 French dishes,
all accompanied by English translations and explanations.
--------------------
Connected Posts:
Carottes - Carrots in French Cuisine.
Cassoles, Cassolettes, and Cassoulets. Along with Four of the Most Famous Cassoulets on
French Menus
Champignons on French Menus. The Champignon de Paris, the Button Mushroom in French
Cuisine. The Mushrooms of France I.
Chanterelle Mushrooms, the Most Famous Four. Chanterelle Mushrooms on French
Menus. The Mushrooms of France
Chèvre and Chevreau or Cabri – Goat’s Cheese and a Young Goat, a Kid, on Your French
Menu.
Citron – The lemon; the fruit behind many of France’s culinary successes.
Also the Citron Vert - Lime, the Cedrat – the Citron, the Combava – the kaffir
lime and the Chadec - the Pomelo.
Escargots - Snails on French Menus and How to Order Snails in
France. If You Enjoy Cockels, Mussels, and Conches, Then Snails will not be
Strange.
Gingembre – Ginger, the Spice. Ginger is very important in French
Cuisine, and Gingerbread is Very Popular.
Jus – Fruit or Vegetable Juice and/or a cooked dish’s natural juices on French Menus.
La Truffe de Périgord, la Truffe Noire - The Perigord Truffle, the Black Truffle in French
Cuisine.
Morille, the Morel Mushroom. Morel mushrooms on French Menus.
Moutarde – Mustard and Dijon Mustard in French cuisine.
Rognons - Kidneys on French menus.
The Button Mushroom. Mushrooms in France I. The Champignon de Paris.
The King Scallop and the Queen Scallop. On French Menus the Saint-Jacque, the Coquilles
Saint-Jacques and the Vanneaux or Pétoncle.
Thyme in France. Thym, Serpolet, Farigoule and Thym Citron, Lemon Thyme
in France. Thyme. One of the most important herbs in French cuisine.
Turnips, (Navets) Parsnips (Panais) and Swedes
(Chou-Navets or Rutabaga). Traditional Root Vegetables in Modern French Cuisine.
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright
2010, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2025
