That's Life by Miriam L. Wallach

Dear That’s Life,

As a self-declared foodie I often read recipes, kosher and not kosher, simply because they are printed in my cooking magazines and I find them interesting. While many of the recipes sound very interesting simply because of the combination of ingredients or the flavor profiles, there are certain things I would never have any interest in trying. Shrimp, for example, is one of those foods I would never eat regardless of dietary restrictions because the mere idea that shrimp recipes require you to ‘de-vein’ the shrimp before cooking is enough of a turnoff.

That being said, I don’t think ‘remove membranes and connective tissue’ should be instructions in a recipe for kosher food either. Again, there’s that ‘turnoff factor’ I was just mentioning. Yet, while making sweetbreads for the first time, each recipe I read reminded me to do just that. (No — that wasn’t a typo: I really made sweetbreads in 2009. Will all the cardiologists please stop cringing?)

Searching for guidance before beginning this project, I turned to the Internet. Each time I typed ‘sweetbreads recipe’ into the Google search bar, I was asked the following question, bolded and italicized: Did you mean sweetbreads? Well, yes I did, you judgmental search engine. And if I wanted to hear about just how bad they are for you, there are plenty of people I could have called.

And actually, I did. There were basically two reactions I received when I called some close friends of Eastern European extraction who I thought could help me. Someone had to have a mother or grandmother who made sweetbreads before catch phrases like ‘BMI’ or ‘angioplasty’ came into vogue. Reactions to my project went one of two ways: either it was, “I LOVE sweetbreads!” or, with disdain and mild disgust in their voice, it was “You’re making sweetbreads?” I could almost see their facial expressions as the words came out of their mouths. And despite their reactions, their advice was minimal.

Yet, I was determined to make them and not just because the money had already been spent and the package was in my house. Ever get something into your head that you just have to do regardless of how crazy or inane it might be? Well, this was one of those things.