Lamb fries explained

Lamb fries should not be confused with lamb's fry.

Lamb fries are lamb testicles used as food. Historically they were parboiled, cut in half, and seasoned.[1] Lamb testicles are served in a variety of cuisines, including Italian,[2] Basque,[3] breaded and fried in some barbecue restaurants, Chinese,[4] Caucasian,[5] Persian and Iranian Armenian (called donbalan),[6] and Turkish.[7] The dish is rarely served at restaurants in the United States, but can occasionally be found at Iranian restaurants.[6]

Lamb fries, often served in a cream gravy, are a traditional dish in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.[8]

In popular culture

In the film Funny Farm, the main character, Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase), breaks a local record by eating thirty lamb fries, only to discover what they actually are and spit the thirty-first out in revulsion.

In the 1960 movie Hell Bent for Leather, Clay played by Audie Murphy goes to the saloon in Sutterville because he has been told there is food available there. The bartender tells him that lamb fries and swamp weed are on the stove.

In Season 9 of the Real Housewives of Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson visited her daughter Briana in Oklahoma where Briana’s husband, Ryan ordered lamb fries. Vicki asked the waiter what was in the lamb fries. When told they were testicles Vicki hit the waiter with her napkin.

See also

Notes and References

  1. The Encyclopedia of Food and Beverage by Artemas Ward New York, 1911
  2. Web site: Canary Chicken House - CLOSED - West Los Angeles - Los Angeles, CA. Yelp. 26 March 2019.
  3. News: Delicacy of the Wild West Lives on for Those So Bold. Patricia Leigh. Brown. The New York Times . 17 March 2009 .
  4. Web site: Best Kung Pao Lamb Testicles in New York - Restaurants - Outer Boroughs. Chowhound. 13 October 2005.
  5. Web site: zakusochnaya.com . Zakusochnaya.com . 2019-03-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222137/http://zakusochnaya.com/index.html . 2016-03-03 . dead .
  6. News: Two food writers eat at all the Persian restaurants in SoCal (OK, 18 of them) . LA Times . 6 August 2019 .
  7. Web site: Dinner Menu. 2011-01-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20110219004225/http://www.efendy.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:dinner-menu&catid=35&Itemid=63. 2011-02-19. dead.
  8. Alvey, R. Gerald. Kentucky Bluegrass Country. University Press of Mississippi, 1992.