Artist's Palate: Philippe Parreno's stuffed spleen

French multimedia artist Philippe Parreno (W*176) orchestrates his exhibitions (such as last year’s critical smash at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris) like an immersive performance of film, objects and sound. The dish he has sent us is a harder sell. ‘It is made from veal spleen stuffed with pork, veal fat, stale breadcrumbs, cumin, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and parsley. Sounds disgusting but it’s fantastic,’ he maintains. ‘The recipe comes from a book, a collection of Jewish-Spanish North African recipes, that was made for me by my late mother. These are very old recipes – you wouldn’t find them in modern cookbooks, as people just don’t eat like this anymore. My mother included sayings from her grandmother on the pages facing each recipe. It’s morbid. My mother is dead, my great-grandmother is dead and the recipes are not cooked anymore. A book of death!’ Still, don’t let us put you off.
Ingredients
½ stale loaf of bread
1 veal spleen
1 egg
fat from veal heart
200g minced pork
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper
3 clove garlic (crushed)
2 whole cayenne peppers (crushed)
1 tsp parsley
Method
Make bread crumbs with the stale bread. Clean the fat off the veal by pulling away the membrane around the fatty nodules. Clean the spleen by removing the skin. Cut open the spleen with a sharp knife, in order to create a pocket. Prepare the stuffing by mixing the beaten egg, fat, bread crumbs, minced pork, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, the peppers and parsley. Stuff the spleen with this mixture. Sew up the opening. Roast in a pot with a glass of water for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let it cool. To serve, cut the spleen in slices, and grill - ideally over a barbecue.
INFORMATION
Interiors: Maria Sobrino. Food: Maud Eden
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Mercedes streamlines the CLA Shooting Brake to create an aerodynamic electric load lugger
The new CLA Shooting Brake is the first ever electric estate car from Mercedes-Benz, a tour-de-force of quiet technology and elegant lines
-
Willy Chavarria: ‘We’re still so stuck in fashion‘s old guard’
As part of the August 2025 ‘Made in America’ issue of Wallpaper*, we invited three creative powerhouses to comment on the state of the States. Here, award-winning American fashion designer Willy Chavarria speaks on creative resilience, uniting with activist groups, and shaking up fashion’s old guard
-
Six Indian artists reframe the ladies compartment of a Mumbai local train
An exhibition by Method (India) at Galerie Melike Bilir in Hamburg explores a gendered space