In the kitchens of Casa Enriqueta, Berta, a chef with a background in offal, prepares one of the most exclusive and expensive items on her menu for Madrid Secreto: the chorrillo. It is a gland located between the lungs of the lamb that stands out both for its scarcity on the market and for the exhaustive manual labor required before it reaches the plate. That is perhaps why it is rarely found in Madrid’s restaurants—not even in those that specialize in offal.
A labor-intensive process with high waste
The high price of this cut is due to a fundamental biological factor: each lamb has only one chorrillo.
And in the kitchen, each piece must be treated individually. Berta removes all the outer fat by hand, a meticulous cleaning process that generates a significant amount of waste and requires careful handling so as not to break the delicate structure of the meat.
Once prepared, the product is immersed in the deep fryer, where it is cooked directly in the lamb’s fat—just as is done with lamb gizzards or lamb tripe.
Intense flavor in a delicatessen format
At the table, a half-portion of chorrillo costs 12 euros. And as for the flavor, it’s what a friend describes as a glitch in the Matrix: all foods we aren’t used to eating regularly taste like chicken.
The chorrillo is no exception. Although in this case it is more a matter of texture, the flavor is reminiscent of lamb, as one would expect.