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Kidneys, Grilled, and Tomatoes
Split eight sheep's kidneys, put them on a skewer, and grill over a clear fire for five minutes; lay them on a hot dish, sprinkle a little minced ham or bacon over, and a dusting of pepper. Partly close them, put a little butter over each, and bake in a moderate oven for ten minutes. Fry some tomatoes, and make a border of them round the dish, with the kidneys in the centre.
A quick grill-then-bake treatment of lamb kidneys, written for a coal range and a butcher who sold offal by the pair. The whole thing works in a modern kitchen with almost no adjustment, but the timings deserve scrutiny.
- Sheep's kidneys are lamb kidneysWhat Cassell's calls a sheep's kidney is sold today as a lamb kidney, roughly 2 oz each and usually sold in pairs. Eight of them serve four people as a substantial breakfast or light supper dish; halve the quantity for two.
- Prep the book assumes you knowPeel off the thin outer membrane before splitting, or the kidneys will curl tight on the skewer. Split lengthwise almost through so they open flat like a book, and snip out the white core of fat and gristle at the hinge with scissors.
- "Partly close them"The kidneys are grilled open and flat, then folded back over the minced ham and butter so the filling steams inside during the oven stage. Skewers through the two halves crosswise keep them shut.
- A moderate oven350F. The oven stage is there to melt the butter through the ham and finish the meat, not to brown it further.
- Watch the total cooking timeThe book's five minutes is the total over the fire, not per side, and five plus ten in the oven risks taking lamb kidneys past done and into rubber. Grill briefly over high heat, turning once, then give them four or five minutes at 350F; they should be firm outside and faintly rosy at the centre. Kidney has a short window between tender and bouncy.
- A clear fireMeans the coals have burnt down past smoke to steady red heat. Use a broiler on its highest setting with the rack close, or a very hot ridged grill pan.
- The tomatoesHalve them across, season the cut faces, and fry cut side down in butter or bacon fat until they collapse slightly but still hold shape. Small firm tomatoes work far better than large watery ones for a border that has to stay upright on the dish.
- The hamThe book does not say whether the ham is cooked or raw; either way, finely minced ham or bacon will cook through during the oven stage. Bacon lardons or finely diced pancetta do the same job.
Grilled kidneys belong squarely to the Victorian and Edwardian breakfast sideboard, where devilled and grilled offal sat in covered dishes alongside kedgeree and bacon; Cassell's, which ran through many editions from the 1870s onward, catalogues dozens of such preparations for households that expected variety at that hour. Kidneys were cheap, cooked in minutes, and came in single-portion units, which suited a meal served over an hour or more to people arriving in ones and twos. Tomatoes moved from suspicion to staple in British cooking across the nineteenth century, and by the time this book was in wide circulation a fried tomato was a standard breakfast accompaniment rather than a novelty.