Sweetbreads Wrapped in Chicken Skin with Black Garlic Tehina

Serves 8

This was one of the first signature dishes I created when I became the executive chef at Marigold Kitchen in Philadelphia in 2005. Sweetbreads is a pleasant word—until you realize we’re talking about the thymus gland of a baby animal. Sweetbreads are, however, one of the mildest organ meats; some people say they taste like chicken. So, I thought, why not wrap them in the best part of the chicken: the skin. Once wrapped, I sear the sweetbreads in a hot skillet until the skin is crisp and well rendered, and the interior is just cooked through. Well-cooked sweetbreads are firm but not bouncy; they retain a slightly creamy interior that makes them luxurious to eat.

I serve these little nuggets with tehina sauce enriched with black garlic. Sweetbreads have a very delicate flavor, and the mellow tehina does not drown it out. But they are also very rich (especially when wrapped in the chicken skin), so the zip of the black garlic provides a needed counterpoint. This preparation takes a bit of effort (the package is held together with meat glue, which you’ll need to order). But when the sweetbreads are sizzling and crisp and dipped in the black garlic tehina, I swear to God, they taste just like an Israeli barbecue on the beach.

•   Skin from 8 chicken breasts
• 1 pound sweetbreads
•   Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons transglutaminase (aka meat glue; see Resources)
•   Canola oil, for frying
• 1 cup Basic Tehina Sauce (see recipe)
• 4 black garlic cloves (see sidebar)
•   Ground sumac (see sidebar)

● Rinse the chicken skins and sweetbreads separately under cold running water for 10 minutes each. Dry everything thoroughly with paper towels.

● Lay the chicken skins on a cutting board, skin side down. Using a paring knife, scrape away the fat from the inside of the skin. Trim each piece into a rough rectangle, about 3 by 4 inches.

● Trim away excess gristle and connective tissue from the sweetbreads and cut into 8 rectangular pieces. (It’s okay if they’re not uniform—wrapping hides irregularities.) Season the sweetbreads with salt.

● Put a square of plastic wrap on a clean cutting board and lay a piece of chicken skin on top, inside up. Lightly season the inside of the chicken skin with salt and, using gloves (to protect your fingers from the meat glue), sprinkle liberally with the transglutaminase. Place a piece of sweetbread on top of a wide edge of the chicken skin. Roll the chicken skin around the sweetbread, tucking in the bottom. Trim away excess skin. Wrap the roll tightly in the plastic wrap, twisting both ends to create a uniform sausage shape. Repeat to make 8 rolls. Refrigerate the rolls overnight to allow the transglutaminase to work its magic.

● Heat about ¼ inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering but not smoking. Remove the plastic wrap from the rolls. Working in batches, arrange the rolls in a single layer in the skillet and pan-fry, turning as they brown, until they are just cooked through and the chicken skin is crisp, about 8 minutes.

● For the black garlic tehina, combine the tehina sauce and black garlic in a food processor. Puree until smooth, adding ice water a couple tablespoons at a time if the sauce seems too thick.

● Serve the sweetbreads immediately, dusted with sumac and with the tehina for dipping.