La Terrine de ris de Veau
Terrine of Sweetbreads
We made La Terrin de ris de Veau at one of the Eating Vincent Price dinners in Chicago. Normally, I like my sweetbreads breaded and fried and served at Bayonne’s in New Orleans. This dish is delicious and will make your dinner guests think you are a great golden god.
You can approach making forcemeat from a couple of angles. Grow some bushy lamb chops and be a hipster foodie larping a French chef from 1831 who dices all the meat by hand until it turns into an artisanal version of hamburger. Or you can just ask your butcher to grind that shit up for you. Or just buy it already ground. Quit being such a snob.
Terrine Tricks
A couple of tricks for making terrines. Air bubbles are your enemy; gravity is your friend. After you load all the meat into the terrine, slam that fucker on the counter a couple of times. This will bust up the larger cavities. Lay a foil covered brick on top. Its weight will slowly press all the meat into a solid loaf with no holes.
Truffles
This recipe calls for truffles. If you haven’t read my previous articles about truffles, just do yourself a favor. Spend the money. Buy a real goddam truffle. Truffle oil and those shitty furry marbles you get from your favorite grocery stores taste like pig snot. Don’t do it.
How to do veau
As for sweetbreads, if you live in Chicago, contact a decent butcher. There are plenty. My favorite is Butcher & Larder because you can have a sandwich and watch them butcher a side of beef right in front of you. Bloody fun. I love Peoria Packing and Meat Mart on Lake. It’s huge, it has bulk chicken feet, pig skin, and all the cuts. Their prices are unbeatable and they know their shit. Wear a coat.
If you don’t know what sweetbreads are, then you need to get out more. Sweetbreads are the glands of a lamb or a calf, usually the thymus gland, though any of the glands qualify.
Traditionally, you soak the sweetbreads in brine, then in milk, then rinse and cook. Some cooks skip the milk part. I can’t tell a difference between milk soaked and water soaked. I say skip that step but if you’re a hipster or you prefer following tradition then do it.