Um, You Want Me to Make What?!?!

Last Friday was an interesting night to say the least. An entire day dedicated to nothing other than organ meats. Gulp.

I had been coming down with a cold so maybe it was a good thing that my taste buds were a little dull. We were asked to, at the very least, try everything. I tried 2 of the dishes, and when I say try, I mean literally a small piece just to see what all the fuss was about. There were people in my class, though, who loved this stuff. Eating it all up and taking the leftovers from everyone else to take home. I guess it's just something you need to get used to. I can remember a day when people used to turn their nose hearing that I ate sushi. Now, kids are eating it not that far after they move onto solid foods.

So, for those of you with kids, when do you think your little one will be having sweetbreads, tongue, kidneys and liver for dinner? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Sweetbreads I have heard a lot about. I have seen it on menus and have heard people say how great they were....or maybe that was on Top Chef? Anyway, this is basically the thymus gland of the animal. The looks of it will scare you, since it basically looks like a brain. But after you slice it, bread it in panko crumbs and pan fry, it actually doesn't look too bad. I actually liked the accompanying sauce we made with this, which was basically a reduction of veal stock and red and white wine that was simmered with some carrots and onions for extra flavor before being strained. So, given this, I actually decided to try the dish. All in all it actually was not that bad. But, then again, it was breaded and fried.






We also made a calf's liver with caramelized onions. The onions were really good since we caramelized them and then sauteed them with bacon and some maple syrup. This is probably why I tried the liver. The liver was simply dusted with flour and then seared real fast on the outside leaving it medium rare to serve. Again, it was just OK, but I think the maple syrup may have overpowered any liver flavor (not to mention my cold) so who is to say I actually got what the real flavor should have been.





My tasting nerve was severed there.

When you can make a correlation between what you are eating to a human body part, it makes it difficult to swallow. The sweetbreads, liver and kidneys are different in that these are internal and I can't actually see them. Or touch them. Welcome to the tongue dish.

They told us that tongue usually takes on the flavor of the animal it is coming from. Therefore, ours should taste similar to lamb. Great. It was not easy working with this from the beginning. I "let" my partner take the reins on this one. The tongue was basically simmered for about 2 hours in a flavorful liquid. Once they are done simmering, then the fun begins. You have to peel the outer layer of the darn thing?!?! This is where I almost puked. When I actually felt the familiar texture of the tongue and the taste buds and all, I got queasy. We had 5 tongues to peel. I made it through 1 (without looking at it), and then turned the rest over to my partner. I "let" him slice and plate it too. Can we move on now? Oh, wait....not until you feel my pain.





Sick yet? Because we still have the kidneys to cover.

This was the last dish of the evening, and by this point I was just hoping for a kitchen fire or something. Wait! We have to flambe this one! Maybe I could create a diversion?

It was served with a a creamy Dijon sauce. Wait, let me rephrase that. A really bad creamy Dijon mustard sauce. Our Chef even refused to taste the kidney dishes because it was not something he liked. Cool. How does my presentation look? Good? Great! Kidney's, meet Mr. Composte bin.



TGIF. And, thank goodness three weeks of pastry are coming up.