In case anyone has been on the lookout for lamb testicles, they had them in the packaged meat case at Halalco today. They also had lamb brains, tongues, liver and kidneys. How offal, you say?

The Grand Mart in Sterling has a top shelf featuring every cut of tripe, plus what I believe constitutes all the parts for an "assemble your own pig at home" kit.

Regarding the lamb testicles, were they packaged in odd numbers, as they always were in our supermarkets in Kentucky, where they were labeled as "lamb fries?"

Recipes that make men cross their legs and wince.

Lamb liver is a treat, easily as good as or better than calves liver. I used to get it at the farmer's market in Madison WI from the organic lamb people. Where is this place?

Did someone say lamb's tongue?

The Spotted Pig, June 2005
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Yes, they were called 'lamb fries' but I don't recall the packages containing odd numbers.

Halalco is in downtown Falls Church--I don't have access to the address (I'm in L.A. at the moment), but it's in a strip mall with the ABC store, which is behind the strip mall where Lebanon Butcher is located. Perhaps someone else can provide the address.

Why are they packaged in odd numbers?

Anyone know where to get some sweetbreads?

I've seen sweetbreads at Wegmans in Fairfax. They don't always have them but most of the time they do.

What Paula said!

I'm sorry--I meant to respond to this post much sooner, but life just got in the way. I buy sweetbreads at Wegmans whenever I can. Watch the dates on the labels though--I've found out of date packages on at least one occasion. I try to buy them often because we love them and to encourage Wegmans to keep carrying them.

The sweetbreads I've gotten there have been fairly clean and good-tasting. I don't have a lot to which to compare them, as I haven't bought them from too many other retailers.

Mr. S and I used to trek in to Georgetown to the French Market to purchase them, but they were only available "in season" there--that was in the early '80s. I've also gotten them from our local Safeway once or twice, but I haven't seen them there in a very long time.

Expanding the offal envelope...

Alan Richman combs NYC for...specialties.

(wondering if I should reconsider ironstomachness...heh )

I can't believe the guy didn't include smelly tofu or duck blood. I went with a group to Full Kee and we ordered all the offal things on the special menu. Duck blood, feet, tongues, pig intestine cooked in a couple of different ways. A little bit of duck blood goes a long way, I can say with certainty. I guess you need to have grown up eating those things to really enjoy them--although there are familiar tastes from my childhood that I am not in a hurry to eat again--like kishka.

Foie gras and sweetbreads are indeed organ meats. Pork belly is not. It is plain, simple, delicious BACON (mmmmm).

Actually, it seems hard to avoid pork belly or foie gras these days, and sweetbreads are pretty common, as well (try Italian places). Not that I'm complaining; this is a good thing. But I'll be more impressed when kidneys and sheep lungs make the menu.


Get thee to Bistro d'Oc.

I recall having pork belly at Gramercy Tavern in the last 90s and lamb liver, also at GT, in early 2002. Now, the cuisine hasn't changed at GT much since then, but there was a time when Colicchio advanced the idea of "New American" several steps forward.

Supposedly, FDA regulations forbid the offering of lungs for human consumption in the US.

Oh, if you knew me better you wouldn't be surprised. As I said, I don't get out much. Where I come from, pork belly is something you cook with collard greens.

Be careful: sweetbreads are a gateway offal. Sure, they seem innocent enough. Then the next thing you know you're thinking "why did I hate liver all these years?" Then furtive dashes to Chinatown for duck tongue and intestine soup. Late night rendez-vous with mysterious Russian ice dancers for vodkas and brains in buerre noir. Uncontrollable cravings for Ethipiopian bulls heart with beri-beri....

And then finally, the bad crash landing when the dogs corner you at Dulles, and three unsmiling men pry open your suitcase and find it full of sheeps lungs, the critical element, so you thought for a Dionysian Burns Day Haggis-fest but now merely the tool of your own undoing.

I've tried duck tongues and duck feet once -- no more. Liver and kidneys are eh. You couldn't get me to try lungs, brains, testicles, uteri, pizzles or bungs short of threatening my life with a large calibre weapon. Forget about chitlins, just shoot me.

But I love tripe in menudo and pho. And sweetbreads. And calf tongue.

And Eve's sweetbreads are very fine, indeed.

Let's not be too quick to judge chitterlings. On a recent trip to London, I had the chance to grab dinner at St. John in Smithfield. I started with roast bone marrow (3 large bones) and parsley salad. The marrow, once extracted from the bones, could then be spread on toast, topped with the salad and sprinkled with gray salt. Fantastic (if not exactly heart healthy)! I followed that with chitterlings that had been sliced into slim strands, woven together, and then finished off in duck fat. This was served atop lightly dressed dandelion greens. Really, really good.

Or, perhaps just evidence that anything cooked in duck fat can be good!

Regards - Beau

I'm with you. I thought they tasted alright, but why bother with all that freakin cartilage?

Brains! Sweetbreads!

I'm getting more and more excited about moving from Omaha.

I asked the butcher at our local supermarket here if he could get sweetbreads. He directed me to the bakery.

This was listed elsewhere on DR, but here's the mostly offal menu from Oct. 25th, 2006's TasteDC's "Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival" held at the Woman's Nat. Dem. Club on Dupont Circle - quick note - kidneys twice, sweetbreads once, Rocky Mountain Oysters "Fries" once, and a whole assortment of other tasty dishes - Llama Slider was my fave!:

Menu
Chef de Cuisine, James Phillips – Juniper Restaurant, Fairmont Hotel
1. Rattlesnake Gumbo with Sassafras Scented Rice
2. Pink Peppercorn and Wattleseed Crusted Ostrich Leg Roast with Diablo Hollandaise

Lebanese Taverna and 100 King Street
1. Veal Kidney with a Dijon Mustard Sauce - 100 King Restaurant
2. Hindbeh Bil Zayt (sautéed Dandelion Leaves in olive oil with garlic,
parsley, and caramelized onions) – Lebanese Taverna

Executive Chef Dan Wecker, The Elkridge Furnace Inn
1. Nut Crusted Sweetbreads with Pomegranate Syrup
2. Buckwheat Blini with American Caviar and Crème Fraiche

Executive Chef Daniel Labonne, Tabaq Bistro
1. Jerk Frog Legs with Jamaican Spices
2. Caribbean Tripe Stew with Grilled Bananas

Executive Chef Daniel Kenney, and Executive Sous Chef Neal Bailey, Willard Hotel
1. Barolo Braised Veal Cheek with Shropshire" Orange" Blue
2. “Bacon and Eggs": House Cured Berkshire Pork Belly with Fried Quails Egg

Executive Chef, Russell Cunningham, Dupont Grille, Jury Hotel
1. Calf Fries
2. Smoked Duck and Fried Squash Blossom Salad with Port Reduction and Pumpkinseed Oil

Executive Chef Charlie Hansji, The Jefferson Hotel
1. Beef Bone Marrow and Liver Parfait
2. Lamb Brains in the Style of Peking

Executive Chef Jamie Stachowski, Restaurant Kolumbia
1. Terrine de Tête de Veau
2. Boudin Rouge, Black Mission Fig and Goat Cheese Strudel

Executive Chef, Stefan Jarausch, The Madison, a Loews Hotel
1. Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Braised Pigs Feet, Xerez Gastrique
2. Crostini of Beef Tongue, Basque Style

Executive Chef Bryan of Chef Bryan's Kitchen
1. Llama Slider with Bleu Cheese and Rosemary Red Onion Jam
2. Grilled Cayman Tail (crocodile) with Smoked Tomato and Basil Butter

Executive Chef, Brian Boots, Elegance Ala Carte
1. Alligator Étouffée
2. Caramelized Fennel, Yucca and Jicama Puree served over Fried Sweet Potato Chips

Executive Chef Daniel Amaya, Dino's
1. Polipo: Olive Oil Braised Octopus with Cici (garbanzos) and Lemony Vinaigrette
2. Crostata di Formaggi. Erborinato di Pecora Cheese Tartlet: cave aged raw sheep's
milk cheese with natural bluing. Robiola La Rossa Cheese Tartlet: Cow and sheep
mixed milk cheese wrapped in cherry leaves that are macerated in grappa

Interesting video clip all about offals with Chef Chris Cosentino of San Francisco's Incanto.

Ain't it offal?

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Having heard of my spleen adventures, my sister bought me Calvin Schwabe's "Unmentionable Cuisine" and Jerry Hopkins's
"Extreme Cuisine" for xmas. I'm only about 50 pages into the Schwabe, but there's already a recipe for Stuffed Calf's Eyes that has this gem of a sentence: "Remove the corneas, lenses, and irises with a sharp knife or small curved scissors".

"Watch this space" hahaha

That sounds pretty offal!!! OMG, AMIRITE!?

Yeah...

Note to self: find source for calves' jaws.

Any ideas for where to find them? I just had them braised and they were exquisite.

Might this have been a translation issue--and you were eating braised veal cheeks?