Thymus Glands: Fried Sweetbreads from Big Earl's BBQ
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| Erica O'Neil |
| A basket of deep fried thymus glands-- sweetbreads from Big Earl's BBQ. |
This week: Fried Sweetbreads served up by Big Earl's BBQ.
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| Erica O'Neil |
| What's inside those nuggets? |
(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)
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| Flickr- Cinnachick |
| Sweetbreads in the raw. |
Tastes Just Like: Chicken nuggets. Honest to goodness chicken nuggets, with none of the weird, mechanically-separated strangeness that can sometimes characterize nuggets of questionable origin. Their mild meaty flavor and firm texture make sweetbreads an ideal introduction for newbies interested in expanding their offal palate.
Sweetbreads have a miscellaneous meaty flavor that isn't readily defined as beef, pork, or chicken. They tend to have more of a mild, white-meat flavor than a more robust dark-meat offering. The texture of sweetbreads is really where this offal shines. Sweetbreads have a toothsome and meaty bite to them that is wholly unlike some of the more gelatinous and jiggly offal meat on the market, making sweetbreads the other, other white meat.
You Know It's Cooked Improperly When: Sweetbreads need to undergo a pretty rigorous soaking and trimming process, given that they were once funky glands pumping hormones. Sweetbread preparation includes soaking (to rid the 'breads of their offal funk), blanching (to firm up those glands), and trimming (to get rid of any weirdness). Skip any of these steps and consume at your own risk.
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| Flickr- Indirect Heat |
| Thymus to the left, pancreas to the right. |
Know of some offal that we just have to try? Let us know in the comment section.
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