• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Forager | Chef
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Interviews
  • Partnerships
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Interviews
  • Partnerships
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About
    • Recipes
    • Interviews
    • Partnerships
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Meat and Game

    Brain Fritters with Gruyere, Lemon and Sage

    Published: Dec 28, 2020 Modified: Feb 8, 2023 Author: Alan Bergo

    Jump to Recipe

    Possibly the greatest sweetbread or brain recipe I've ever made, and certainly the best way to serve them to others, from my experience. If you want to serve offal to people and have them ask for seconds, this recipe will do that.

    Lamb brain recipe fritters with lemon and sage

    If you've never eaten brains, but are curious about them, these fritters should be the first thing on your list to make. If you're a seasoned eater of elusive cranial sweets, you can probably say hello to your new favorite brain recipe.  

    The key with brains, at least for me, in trying to serve them to others, at least for the time being, seems to be figuring out the best way to disguise them, and I don't know anyone who will turn their nose up at crispy, cheesy, golden brown fritters perfumed with fresh sage and anointed with a squeeze of lemon. Seriously. Everything is good in cake or fritter form. 

    cooking brain fritters in a cast iron pan

    While doing research for all my cranial cookery projects for this site, I made notes of the brain recipes I wanted to try and tweak, and I found more than one recipe for fritters.

    Richard Olney described one in his great book of offal cookery, but looking at the ingredients I could see it was going to be a bit dense, since there wasn't any egg. Another recipe I found in the great Phaidon book I Know How to Cook had a recipe for brain fritters too, and that one, with it's gruyere cheese, nutmeg and eggs, was more to my speed. 

    cooking brain fritters in a cast iron pan with sage leaves
    I put the sage leaves in the pan while I shot it, and you can if you're careful, but I wrote the recipe to be a little more fool proof since the leaves are part of what's attractive here.

    After I played around with a few versions, I settled on the one here, which is more or less the same, with the addition of fresh sage and a little tweak on some of the proportions. It's really easy, and, I can guarantee, if you don't tell your friends they're eating brains, no one will suspect a thing.

    You can break it to them as they fight over the last golden brown fritter, and watch their minds juggle with the cognitive dissonance that comes with loving something they might never have considered edible. 

    Lamb brain recipe fritters with lemon and sage
    Lamb brain recipe fritters with lemon and sage
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Lamb Brain Fritters with Lemon and Sage

    Fritters of brains mixed with grated gruyere cheese are a delicious way to begin your journey into enjoying one of the most under-utilized offal delicacies. Serve 2-4 and makes about 10-12 cakes
    Prep Time15 minutes mins
    Cook Time15 minutes mins
    Soaking Time and Prep (unattended)8 hours hrs
    Total Time8 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
    Course: Appetizer, Snack
    Cuisine: American, French
    Keyword: Brains, Lamb
    Servings: 4 Servings
    Calories: 260kcal
    Author: Alan Bergo

    Equipment

    • 1 12 inch skillet
    • 1 2 small mixing bowls

    Ingredients

    Fritters

    • 4 oz cooked lamb or other brains *see note I used 2 whole lamb brains, halved
    • 2 oz Gruyere or Parmesan cheese
    • 1 large egg
    • 2 tablespoons heavy cream or half and half
    • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour or equivalent
    • Fresh cracked black pepper
    • A few scrapes of fresh nutmeg
    • Tiny pinch of cayenne

    For serving

    • Fresh sage leaves about 12
    • ¼ cup clarified butter or cooking oil for frying
    • Fresh lemon wedges

    Instructions

    Batter

    • Cut the lamb or other brains into ½ inch cubes, then mix with the remaining ingredients except the flour. Mash the brains around with a fork a bit to break them up. Add the flour until just combined.
    • Cook a small piece of batter to test the seasoning and adjust as needed. Heat the clarified butter or oil in a pan about 8-10 inches in diameter, a cast iron skillet is great.

    Cooking the Fritters

    • Fry the sage leaves until just crisp, then transfer to a pan lined with a towel in the oven to keep warm. Fry the cakes a few at a time in the now sage-flavored butter until golden on each side, transferring cooked brain fritters to a dish in a warmed oven.
    • Once all the fritters are done, arrange them on a warmed plate, put a sage leaf on each on, and serve hot with lemon wedges.

    Notes

    To prepare the brains for cooking

    Soak the brains in cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water until it runs clear, then poach them in lightly salted water to cover with a peel of lemon zest and a bay leaf for 20 minutes. Cool the brains in their liquid completely, then they’re ready for the fritters.

    Using other brains besides lamb 

    You can use other brains here, and you'll get a better yield from pork or beef. All of my lamb and goat brains have lost about half their weight after poaching, for what it's worth. 

    Nutrition

    Serving: 2oz | Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 137mg | Sodium: 141mg | Potassium: 129mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 0.4g | Vitamin A: 5011IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 2mg
    « Brain Salad with Herbs and Pickled Peppers (Salade de Cervelle)
    Buckwheat Kasha with Wild Mushrooms and Onions »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. forageforsouls

      March 27, 2025 at 12:35 am

      Kill yourself please. Spare the world from your mental disease..thanks

      Reply
    2. Midnight Carp

      October 04, 2021 at 11:31 pm

      5 stars
      Don't try swapping the parmesan for feta, was very blaned

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        October 05, 2021 at 8:42 am

        Yeah feta is too wet and won’t brown as pictured in the recipe. Thank

        Reply
    3. Jessica

      September 13, 2021 at 3:33 am

      Hi there! I’d love to try this recipe but the title says it Gruyere and the recipe calls for Parmesan. Which cheese is the intended one? Thanks looks great!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        September 13, 2021 at 9:38 am

        Either parm or gruyere are fine. I include parm as an option as most people have it more readily available.

        Reply
    4. Jacqui

      January 02, 2021 at 7:30 pm

      Like my daughter says: "everything's better when it's fried".
      You can do anything with brains that you would do with sweetbreads. Like ... with asparagus in a vol-au-vent

      Reply
    5 from 2 votes

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Chef Alan Bergo

    HI, I'm Alan: James Beard Award-winning Chef, Author, Show Host and Forager. I've been writing about cooking wild food here for over a decade. Let me show you why foraging is the most delicious thing you'll ever do.

    More about me →

    Get The Book

    the forager chef's book of flora
    The Forager Chefs Book of Flora

    As Seen On

    An image showing many different brands and media companies forager chef alan bergo has worked with.

    Footer

    Privacy

    Subscribe

    Be the first to hear what I'm doing

    Contact

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2025 Forager | Chef LLC® Accessibility Statement

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.