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According to the Larousse Gastronomique, sweetbread is "the culinary term for the thymus gland (in the throat) and the pancreas (near the stomach) in calves, lambs and pigs." Larousse further states that thymus sweetbreads are "elongated and irregular in shape" while pancreas sweetbreads are "larger and rounded."But sweetbreads are neither sweet nor are they bread. The word "sweetbread" was first used in the 16th century, but the reason behind the name is unknown. Sweet is perhaps used since the thymus is sweeter and richer tasting than muscle flesh. Bread may come from brede “roasted meat,” or is used because bread was another name for morsel. Sweetbread fit into the category of offal, along with other organs, meaning “off-fall” or off-cuts from the carcass of an animal. Sometimes known as variety meats, the heads, tails, and organs of animals have long held a place in European kitchens. In the days before the supermarket (admittedly most of human history) when people butchered their own animals, nothing was wasted from the carcass. Thus many recipes for the nasty bits were created to make the most of these odd, often highly nutritional and tasty cuts.
Sweetbreads, aka thymus glands, help young animals fend off disease, and after about six months, they are no longer needed and disappear. So sweetbreads are only found in calves, lambs, and kids, with the sweetbreads from milk-fed veal calves being most commonly eaten. My way it is the really easy way , boiled in hot water for five minutes, breaded and stir fried salt and pepper. In Tuscany they call “animelle” kind of literally little souls pouches.