On the heat. Mild

Ingredients

• 600 g lamb sweetbreads
• Milk or salted water, to soak
• Flour, to dust
• 80 g butter · 2 tbsp oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp capers
• Large handful parsley, chopped
• Salt, black pepper
• — TO SERVE
• Buttered peas, or a plain salad

Method

1. Soak in several changes of cold milk or salted water for 3 hours, until they look pale rather than pink.
2. Blanch: cover with cold water, bring slowly to a bare simmer, and hold for 3 minutes. Drop into iced water.
3. Peel off any membrane with your fingers. Then press: sandwich between two plates with a weight on top, in the fridge, for one hour. This is what gives them texture.
4. Dry, season, and dust with flour, shaking off every excess.
5. Butter and oil foaming. Sweetbreads in, 3 minutes a side, until deep gold and crisp. Do not crowd the pan.
6. Out onto warm plates. Capers into the pan, then lemon, then parsley, swirled into the browning butter. Straight over the top and eat immediately.

Cook's note. Soak, blanch, peel, press. Skip any one of those four and you get a soft, slightly grey thing. Do all four and you get the best offal there is.

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