People tend to be afraid of kidneys, but they're easily
manageable if you don't get squicked out and if you follow
a sensible method. The Hafflys' kitchen was not built to
house an audience, but it would have been possible to do a
lecture-demo for one or two. Just as well not, given my
flying knifework coupled with worse than indifferent eyesight.

I hope you'll agree, though, that the results were decent, and
you now see kidneys as a viable (if no longer budget) food.

Preparation
Trim off tubes and fat. Split and remove any white core.
Smell them and determine which method to use. Most of the
time a quick rinse will be in order before anything else.

Methods, gentle to rough
The gentlest is sauteing in butter. Generally, one discards
the butter afterward, as it tends to be rather funky. In the
case of the lamb kidneys from Petra, even the butter could be
reused. Those were from mighty young lambs, though.

Soak in cold salted water. Repeat as necessary.

Soak in treated water - vinegared to neutralize acids or
baking sodaed to counteract off flavors. Or both, but not at
the same time, as they are antithetical to each other, so in
successive soakings with a water rinse in between. If you like
the odd crunchiness of kidneys, do not use an alkaline rinse.

Parcook for a minute in boiling salted water.

Soak in milk, then discard the milk. Repeat twice more
or until you're comfortable.

The Chinese have a peculiar method for pork kidneys. They
don't necessarily core them but slice them on a severe
diagonal, pressing hard to get rid of the "impurities." Then
they score each slice, so that when they're cooked, they
curl up into a spiky strange thing. Believe me, this method
does not work. It makes the cutting board, knife, your
hands, and the neighborhood smell bad. I might do a parboil
before or after trying this but in general do not endorse it.

After the kidneys are cleaned to your satisfaction, they are
usually cut into bite-size pieces before using in recipes.

Methods can be combined or repeated depending on the amount
of grossness you have to get rid of.

Types
Poultry kidneys. These are often removed with the rest of
the guts, especially in Kosher birds, where their presence
is a no-no. If not, you can find them in a pair of little
kidney cavities toward the bottom of the back. They are
generally a by-product and get cooked along with the rest
of the bird. The flavor is sort of like tainted liver. I
like it; ymmv.

One used to be able to get chicken backs in 5# or 10# bags,
ostensibly for making soup. I used to clean them off, getting
maybe 10% of the tenderest, yummiest meat on the bird, which
got cooked as in sot-l'y-laisse aux morilles or in Chinese
stir-fry. Also, the back skin makes yummy cracklings and yummy
cooking fat. If I was lucky, I could also salvage a
couple-ounce snack of kidneys, which would be sauteed in
butter, deglazed with a teaspoon of sherry or madeira, and -
if they were stronger than normal - splashed with soy sauce.

Smooth kidneys. I've never dealt with rabbit kidneys but have
eaten them. I suspect one pretends they're regular meat and
cooks them with the rest of the dish. Lamb kidneys get done
in the gentler ways. Pig kidneys have to be more roughly
handled. Very young veal kidneys, whose lobes haven't fully
formed, can be treated like lamb kidneys but a tad more
vigorously.

Lobed kidneys, older veal or beef, have to be soaked and/or
parboiled before use. First you split and core, then separate
the lobes, then slice as desired.

--mm
Pappardelle con la lepre
cat: Tuscany, game
servings: 4

2 filets of hare
4 hare kidneys
40 g prosciutto
1/4 md onion
1/4 stalk celery
1 sm carrot
1 sm bn parsley
80 g butter
1/2 c tomato puree
broth as needed
1 Tb flour
s, p
nutmeg
Parmesan, grated
4 servings fresh pappardelle*

* each serving is made with 1 egg and 100 g flour;
pappardelle are noodles of 2-3 cm in thickness.

Clean and rinse the hare and kidneys. Cut into pieces.

Mince the prosciutto, onion, celery, carrot, and
parsley. Wilt in 40 g butter. Add the meat. Season.
Brown the meat and continue cooking over moderate heat.
Add the tomato and broth as needed to make a sauce.
When the meat is cooked, remove it and mince it.

In another pan, brown flour in 20 g butter. Add the
meat and the sauce. Add the final 20 g butter and a
pinch of nutmeg. Cook 10 min.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water until it is
done al dente. Drain and put into a hot serving dish.
Pour the rabbit sauce over and toss. Garnish with cheese.

Nella Mari, Il Cucinone

---
* Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)

On 10-09-19 12:46, Michael Loo <=-
spoke to All about 75 dealing with kidneys <=-

Types
Poultry kidneys. These are often removed with the rest of
the guts, especially in Kosher birds, where their presence
is a no-no. If not, you can find them in a pair of little
kidney cavities toward the bottom of the back. They are
generally a by-product and get cooked along with the rest
of the bird. The flavor is sort of like tainted liver. I
like it; ymmv.

I did not use to know that they were kidneys since they bear no physical resemblence to any other kidney I had ever seen. I believe that you are
the one who told me what they were. In any case, it has always been one
of my favored part of the chicken since I was a pre-teen, along with the oyster.

This sounds like a decent combination of ingredients, but the quantities
are just all wrong. Six sandwiches with a total of 1/3 baked ham??
Plus, six times 1 tablespoon of sauerkraut is a lot less than 3/4 cup.


MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Grilled Ham, Swiss, Sauerkraut
Categories: Sandwich
Yield: 1 servings

2 tb Butter, melted
Coarse-grained musard
12 sl Cocktail rye bread
1/4 lb Swiss, shredded
3/4 c Drained sauerkraut, squeezed
Dry
1/3 lb Baked sliced ham

Lightly brush non-stick baking sheet with butter. spread mustard on
one side each bread slice. Arrange 6 slices bread on baking sheet.
Top each with cheese, 1 tablespoon sauerkraut, ham, then cover with
remaining bread. Brush remaining butter over sandwiches.

Heat oven to 425F. Bake sandwiches about 10 minutes, flip, return to
oven and bake 5 minutes more. Serve warm or at room temperature.

From: Arielle@bonkers.Taronga.C Date: 12-29-94
Email Ä

MMMMM


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 02:42:44, 10 Oct 2019
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