sweetbread, type of offal, or variety meat, deriving from the thymus or pancreas of a young animal (such as a calf or lamb) and prepared as food, though the term is often casually used for an assortment of organ meats and glands eaten as delicacies. Sweetbreads should not be confused with sweet breads, which are breads that are sweet; the term bread likely stems from a generic Old English word for food, more particularly meat, as in the biblical expression “daily bread.”
Among sweetbreads, the pancreas attracts more gastronomic interest than the thymus. When raw, it has a rounded but irregular shape, is off-white to pink in hue, and is not dissimilar to a blancmange—at least at first blush. When cooked, it becomes firmer and smoother. Until the latter part of the 20th century, the pancreas was soaked, blanched, trimmed, and pressed before being braised in a sauce and served as an intermediate course after the hors d’oeuvre and the fish but before the main roast.
Chefs subsequently turned to trimming and then roasting the sweetbreads, basting them with butter, and leaving them still juicy in the middle. Sweetbreads are often scrambled with eggs, broiled in butter, or breaded and fried, and chefs often pair them with a rich sauce or pâté. They are popular on the menus of luxury restaurants, and the renowned French chef Alain Ducasse made famous a pasta dish with sweetbreads, cockscombs, cock’s kidneys, truffles, lobster, and a cream sauce.
Sweetbreads are rich in vitamin C, potassium, iron, and magnesium. On the downside, they are also rich in purines, so people susceptible to gout are advised not to consume them frequently or in great quantity. Before cooking, sweetbreads should be soaked in water for at least half a day to remove any impurities and clotted blood.
Sweetbreads are particularly popular in France and Germany. They are favoured items in the cuisines of the Middle East, Greece, and Argentina, usually roasted, grilled, or panfried. Organ meats are not widely consumed in the United States and Canada, but, with the growing prevalence of the ketogenic diet, they began appearing more frequently on the table there.