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Kidney Fritters
Make a batter with four well-beaten eggs, mixed with half a pint of new milk, and flavoured with a little pepper, salt, and pounded mace. Stir into this a tea-spoonful each of finely-shredded chives, parsley, and mushrooms, and a table-spoonful of the remains of a cold veal kidney finely minced, and mixed with half its weight of fat. Beat together for two or three minutes, then melt an ounce of butter in the frying-pan, pour in the mixture, and stir it until it is set. When it is browned on one side, turn it on a hot dish, hold a salamander or redhot shovel over it for a minute or two to colour it on the other, and serve immediately. Time, five or six minutes. Probable cost, 1s. Sufficient for three persons.
Despite the name, this is not a battered, deep-fried fritter but a soft, milk-loosened omelette enriched with minced cooked kidney. The hinge is heat control: with this much milk to egg, the pan must stay moderate or the mixture will weep and curdle rather than set.
- Half a pint of milkAn imperial half-pint is 10 fl oz, about 1¼ US cups. Against only four eggs that is a very slack mixture, closer to a savoury custard than an omelette batter; expect it to set slowly and stay tender.
- New milkFresh, unskimmed milk straight from the dairy. Whole milk is the correct substitute; skimmed will make the mixture watery.
- The kidneyOnly a tablespoon of already-cooked cold veal kidney is used, mixed with half its weight of fat — kidney suet or the fat trimmed from the kidney itself. This is a leftovers dish, and raw kidney should not be substituted without cooking it first.
- Pounded maceBlade mace crushed in a mortar. Ground mace from a jar works; use a small pinch, as it is assertive and easily dominates the eggs.
- Salamander or red-hot shovelA salamander was an iron plate on a handle heated in the fire and held over food to brown it. A grill or broiler set high does the same job in a minute or two; watch it, as the surface colours fast.
- Pan and butterOne ounce is 2 tablespoons. Use an 8- to 9-inch pan with a good non-stick or well-seasoned surface — a wet egg mixture of this kind sticks readily, and the recipe expects you to turn it out whole.
- TimingFive or six minutes is realistic over medium-low heat: stir until the mass begins to set, then let the base colour without further stirring. Pushed hotter it will scramble and the milk will separate out.
- YieldThree servings as the original states, which suits a breakfast or supper dish rather than a main course.
In Victorian kitchens "fritter" seems to have covered a wider range than it does now, the word being applied loosely to things fried in a batter, including, it would appear, batters cooked flat in a pan like this one. Kidney belonged squarely to the British breakfast and supper table, devilled, grilled or turned into a stew with steak, and the recipe was written for households where the remains of yesterday's veal kidney were expected to reappear rather than be thrown out; a single tablespoon of minced meat flavouring four eggs is thrift disguised as a made dish. The instruction to hold a red-hot shovel over the surface is a reminder that the recipe predates the reliable overhead grill: browning a top crust meant bringing the heat to the food, either with a purpose-made salamander iron or with whatever piece of fireside metal was to hand.