If we went out into the street to ask the long-suffering citizens of Barcelona what sweetbreads are, we would find that most of them don't know. To some, it might even sound like an offensive word. If we then asked them if they know what offal products or viscera are, the percentage of unfamiliarity compared to sweetbreads would decrease, but not by much. Language has that, our vocabulary mutates. Our pantry of words and concepts is pragmatic, not to say utilitarian. What is not used, what is not eaten, simply disappears from our imagination. In some cases, falling into oblivion occurs from one generation to another. But, sometimes, not even that. In a few years, a word can disappear due to disuse. It is true that extinction can also vary by territory, but the permanent survey with which I harass my friends, acquaintances, and acquaintances makes it clear to me that in rural areas, sweetbreads have also ended up in what we would call the graveyard of words.
To be honest, I must say that I was part of the majority. I didn't know what sweetbreads were until one day I went to a restaurant in the port of Montevideo, yes, yes, in Uruguay, and they served me some sweetbreads. I had to cross the Atlantic to discover this dish. Enchanted by the flavor of this part of the veal, which can also be lamb, I decided to delve deeper into the subject. And after returning to Barcelona, a part of the offal underworld that I was unaware of was revealed to me: sweetbreads, the gland between the chest and the trachea of calves and lambs that are still suckling. Explained like that, I know a few who will stop reading this article. But you must make a virtue of necessity and try them. They are part of those tender and tasty meats, along with tongue, cheeks, or oxtail. Sweetbreads, in terms of taste and texture, have nothing to do with the unjustly reviled livers and kidneys.
From here I will tell you that the best sweetbreads in Barcelona I have eaten in two great restaurants, Coure and Alkímia. Both Albert Ventura and Jordi Vilà, chefs and friends, owners of the two restaurants, respectively, know how to find the exact cooking point for the sweetbread to explode in your mouth with all its flavor. Breaded or in sauce, the recipe may change, but both excel. Sergi de Meià also knows how to find his point. In his old restaurant on Aribau street, they could be tasted in different ways. A little more sautéed and toasted than how they prepare them at Alkímia or Coure, but also excellent. Sergi de Meià has changed format, but has not stopped cooking and showing us his great talent. Now we can follow him on Instagram.
Along with the trend that Ferran Adrià opened and that placed us at the top of global gastronomy, chefs who base themselves on the product have been growing and, in addition, have recovered dishes and techniques that had fallen into disuse, not to mention that they had become extinct from restaurant menus and even from butcher shop counters. Today it is strange to find offal in butcher shop windows. Certain products you have to look for in some stalls in municipal markets or in specialized stores. Stores, yes, that have been reborn thanks to the successive migratory waves of recent years, since this new population is more accustomed to consuming this type of product.
The root of the problem is found in the school menu. Rabbit and lamb have disappeared from school cafeterias many years ago. The reason given at my children's school is that children can choke on the fine bones of these meats. True. But in Catalonia we already have a couple of companies that serve boneless rabbit, so the problem would be solved. The diet of Barcelona residents has expanded with external contributions such as Japanese or Turkish food, to give two examples, but it has become impoverished in terms of the use of local products. The question we must ask ourselves is whether the effort of a few, but good, will be enough to bring us to the level that Catalan cuisine deserves. And this, my friends, must necessarily happen in Barcelona.