Sweetbreads or
ris are
culinary names for the
thymus (also called throat, gullet, or neck sweetbread) or the
pancreas (also called heart, stomach, or belly sweetbread), especially of
calf (
ris de veau) and
lamb (
ris d'agneau), and, less commonly, of
beef and
pork. The "heart" sweetbreads are more spherical in shape, and surrounded symmetrically by the "throat" sweetbreads, which are more cylindrical in shape.