Every now and again I find something interesting and potentially yummy at my local big box grocery store (for me it's a Super Stop & Shop) and this week it was a very alluring looking beef kidney. The most kidney experience I have is my Mum's Steak and Kidney pie, which is a childhood favorite. I don't have the time to make myself a pie so I'm going to fry some beef kidney's and make a quick gravy and serve them on some toast for lunch.
I began by soaking the kidney in cold water for a few hours. I changed the water a couple times, but I wasn't really compulsive about it. Many people suggest putting different organs (liver and kidney's mostly) in milk instead of water. When I asked Omi about that she said that she never did because she thought it was a waste of perfectly good milk. When in doubt go with Grannie.
First I clean the kidney. Remove any hard sinew or fat. There are many nobules in a kidney, you want to take them off the center core which is too tough to eat. Ideally you'll be able to remove these nobules but keep their beautiful plump shape. Rinse these beauties in cold water a few times once they've been separated to help remove some of the blood they will seep.
The flavor of the kidney turned out to be very strong. Next time I'm going to do some things differently, like halve or even quarter the kidney nobules. For those of you just starting into the world of offal consider yourself warned, these flavors are strong.
Nonetheless a very nice lunch.