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.
Kidney soaking in water.
For a guideline I'm using a Mrs. Beeton recipe I found online. Basically I'm going to fry the kidney and some finely diced onion in some butter season with a little pepper, sprinkle with a spoonful of flour and then add a mixture of powdered (reconstituted) beef stock, which tends to be very salty hence the lack of salt initially. And then simmer until thickened.
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.
Once your kidney's are ready for the pan melt your butter and add the onion and cook until translucent. Then add the kidney's in a single layer so they brown and don't steam. Once they've got nice colour add some crushed black pepper and followed by a spoonful of flour rolling the kidneys in the flour to both coat the kidney's and cook the flour.
Now add your liquid, homemade stock would be way better but powdered stock is what I've got, then simmer and reduce. Make some toast and taste the kidney and sauce. Re-season if it needs it. I added a couple drops of Worcestershire sauce (later I realised it was a tad too much, so be careful). Pour this over your slices of toast and sit down for a lovely lunch!
I served my kidneys with a side of sliced roasted beets leftover from the weekend, and if I didn't have a bunch of writing to do this afternoon I'd have a nice mug of stout alongside my kidney's, but I've got a full day and can't afford to be sluggish.
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.
Comments
Jules
07/14/2009 09:32
Why soak the meat in milk? Flavour advantage?
Reply
Sydney
07/14/2009 10:31
Apparently the milk takes away some of the strong flavors that both liver and kidneys can have.
I should do a side by side test of milk soaking vs. water soaking, see if there's actually a difference.
My mom used to make these when I was young and I thought them a treat. I'm going to try to reproduce what she made as I dn't have a recipe. Following is what I remember.
Soak them in vinegar (? how long)
Rinse and trim as described in your blog
Cut into small bite size pieces
Dredge well with seasoned flour (can't recall if she dipped in milk first).
Fry over medium heat in small batches in a few tablespoons of butter.
Eat them all!
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