After watching a particularly good episode of Gunsmoke (Dillon has his skull grazed by a bullet and develops amnesia and is rescued by a widow), I
became intrigued by references to "Sonofagun Stew", and have found several references to authentic Texas Sonofab-tch Stew. As organ meats are popular
here, I think the ingredients may be available locally. But, I need the Spanish terms for "sweetbreads" and "marrow gut".
There seems to be some disagreement as to whether sweetbreads are pancreas or thymus. That's "páncreas" and "timo" in Spanish but I don't think those
are the terms butchers use. I can't find marrow gut at all. an obvious try would be "tripa de médula" , but I've never heard that. Médula is
marrow, but bone marrow. Marrow gut looks, I think, like a white intestine, but isn't. It's a "milk producing organ found only in calves", according
to one source. So, I'm making a wild guess here that it's "tripa de leche", but I need to know for sure.
Any help would be muy agradecido.pargo - 12-28-2006 at 10:04 AM
Oso, "sweatbreads" is pan dulce..the old mexican favorite that is oh so yummy con chocomil. "Marrow guts", I've never heard that term but if it's
what i think it is...it's the bone marrow itself. Which is quite tasty. When wifey makes caldo de res (beef stew or soup) you eat the beek shank and
then you work out the marrow from the bone and spread it on a tortilla and off to culinary bliss you go. The word for marrow in spanish is "tuetano".
Hope my reply helps, if not just makes you plain ole hungry....Hasta luego carnal!fdt - 12-28-2006 at 10:43 AM
Thanks, but you're both wrong so far. Pan Dulce is not something found inside a calf, at least not anything I'd want to find there. "Sweetbreads" is
pretty clearly pancreas and/or thymus and so far "mollejas" seems to be the best translation. These can be beef, lamb or pork, but the best seems to
be from calves.
"Bofe" is lung, and like "buche", esophagus, is not found in the recipe I wish to follow. Although one source says S.O.B. Stew used "everything but
the hair and horns".
I'm familiar with both "tuetano" and "médula" as terms for marrow, but again this is bone marrow. I've found some suppliers of specialty meats on the
web that list marrow gut, usually offered as "braided marrow gut", but still can't find a Spanish term. It's found between the stomachs, only in
calves, and unfortunately for me, it's the primary essential flavor agent in the traditional stew and not available at my local U.S. side butcher shop
(they only do veal at County Fair time). So my plans to offer it as New Years Day breakfast for hangover sufferers is not going well.
Ferna, thank for the "Caldo Odioso" recipe, sounds just right for catfish, and might do as well as menudo for hangovers.
Sweetbreads
Skipjack Joe - 12-28-2006 at 06:39 PM
For several decades now, I have thought that sweetbreads were fried cow brains. My parents fed me that stuff when I was a youngster. Mom woud roll the
brain in bread crumbs and then fry it. Is there another term for this?
It was one of my least favorite foods. It ranked right up there with aspic. I shudder at the memory.Subastador - 1-19-2007 at 10:55 AM
From a long time home butcherer from a ranch background, I can tell you that sweetbreads is a gland from the neck and is found in edible quantity in
cattle and sheep. Best from a calf I think. Many (mostly Italian) restaurants offer braised sweetbreads, usually served with a brown gravy type sauce
in which they have been sauteed. Best if not cooked too long. I think the gland is the thyroid. (Haven't looked up thymus yet). But it is definitely
NOT pancreas.
The marrow gut is, as described by some of the previous posters, a portion of the small intestine, found only from suckling animals, and is filled
with a milky substance. Most westerners call it "milk gut". Similar to chitlins, which are traditionally from pigs. I think the mexicans call it
"Tripas", which is not tripe. Tripe is the washed and cleaned stomach lining from the rumen, and is the main ingredient of menudo. When I was a kid,
an old time ranch women would serve her sons fried "tripas" as a special breakfast. She said she learned about it from the old Californio rancheros
around the turn of the century, (1900).Subastador - 1-19-2007 at 11:10 AM
Just did a wickipedia search for "Thymus" and it confirms that sweetbreads is the thymus gland. (Should have done this prior to my earlier post).Oso - 1-19-2007 at 04:51 PM
Thanks, that makes "tripa de leche" a more likely candidate. Somehow I don't think I'm going to get around to making SOB stew anytime soon. I wonder
if there are any gourmet mail order houses that sell it in cans?
BTW, I eat tacos de tripas quite often. A unique taste, fairly riminiscent of chitlins. Haven't had any of those since I left NC 6yrs ago. My
hometown of Fayetteville has a great Drive-in named Vick's, run by Greeks and mostly patronized by African-Americans, that offers "Wrinkled Steak
Specials".
[Edited on 1-19-2007 by Oso]vgabndo - 1-20-2007 at 01:49 AM
Wrinkled Steak Specials would seem to go great on the menu of a place I saw out of Savannah on the way to Hilton Head. The SQUAT AND GOBBLE CAFE.Oso - 1-20-2007 at 10:58 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by vgabndo
Wrinkled Steak Specials would seem to go great on the menu of a place I saw out of Savannah on the way to Hilton Head. The SQUAT AND GOBBLE CAFE.
Beautiful! I can almost smell the cornbread and taste the collards and black-eyed peas.vgabndo - 1-20-2007 at 02:13 PM
I did taste them, and I can confirm that with a name like that, the food had BETTER be good. If I can recall, they did a nice job on the sow belly
with sunnyside cackle fruits on my grits.SiReNiTa - 1-22-2007 at 12:07 PM
yum yum...brains and guts??? hmmm my my that does sound inviting doesn't it???!!! Oso - 1-22-2007 at 06:44 PM
Don't knock it if you haven't tried it, Sweetie. Every time I went through Goldsboro, NC in the morning I would have breakfast of brains (pork) and
eggs at Wilbers.
